WGST 1808 Chapter 13: READING NOTES - White Privilege; Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (Peggy McIntosh)

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emeraldjackal218

10 Feb 2017

School

Carleton University

Department

Women's and Gender Studies

Course

WGST 1808

Professor

Aalya Ahmad

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Document Summary

White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack peggy mcintosh. Men"s unwillingness to grant that they are over-privileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. Denials protect male privilege from being fully acknowledged, lessened, or ended. Whites & males are carefully taught not to recognize their privilege. White privilege = invisible package of unearned assets. Schooling gives no training in seeing oneself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture. Taught to see oneself as an individual whose moral state depends on their moral will. Company of people of my own race. Do not have to educate children to be aware of systemic racism. Speak for all people of racial group. Pressure to avoid white privilege is great facing it requires giving up the myth of meritocracy. Being of the main culture, one can also criticize it fairly freely.

Related Questions

based on your additional research, should police departments employ predictive policing to reduce crime with limited resources? Be sure to carefully defend your response with reasons and consider an objection (which you respond to) before you conclude the argument.

My response: I agree that being a part of the white society is like the concept of invisible privilege that has a familiar simile in that it is analogous to an invisible weightless knapsack. This metaphor emphasizes that white privilege, even though it may not be immediately obvious, has considerable advantages and opportunities that may include a lot of benefits and freedom to life. White people benefit from the structures and institutions in which they live. In the same culture, they were trained to be oblivious to their benefits. The undeserved advantages that were created by white people made people of color feel as if they were being oppressed. It is a norm and dominating racial power to be white in this society. For instance, if a white person comes into a new neighborhood, they are fairly certain that the bulk of their neighbors are the same color as them. A person has no idea of the advantages they have until they put themselves in the shoes of other people of color. Peggy McIntosh said that white advantages don't originate from a fault in a single human or from a single individual using them. It is via an inherent fault in the system that white privilege is created. If we wish to effect systemic change, it must occur inside the system. Systems have a major impact on individual behavior in the social world. We may all do our part to hasten the end. McIntosh maintains that white people may see racism in a different way when something gives them an advantage over others, not because it benefits white people. Systemic oppressions have interactive and internalized characteristics. Teaching racism as an act rather than an overall system that advantages the dominant group makes it difficult for white people to see themselves as racists. Embedded systems can't be eliminated, the recognition of them is important. Change won't come from just being dissatisfied with the system. McIntosh's example offers many benefits for comprehending white privilege. There are many advantages to understanding white privilege as the McIntosh example demonstrates. While it is true that 'whiteness' is simply about skin color, the various definitions of race reveal that it is really much more than that. The fact that McIntosh refers to white advantage rather than non-white disadvantage when framing the discussion of race reinforces the overall idea that race should be seen in terms of advantage rather than disadvantage.

include

1. Introduction

-State thesis and summarize argument

-Define any key terms

2. Main Body

-Argument 1, Argument 2, Argument 3

3. Objection

-Response to objection

4. Conclusion

-Restate thesis/summarize your main arguments

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WGST 1808 Chapter 13: READING NOTES - White Privilege; Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (Peggy McIntosh)

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