Examining Our Own Culture and Identity
Unpacking Privilege and Our Relationship to the Dominant Culture
One of the hardest parts of identity work for me to wrap my head around when I started the work was the concept of Privilege and, especially, White Privilege. Privilege is a “right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed by a particular person or a restricted group of people beyond the advantages of most (Dictionary.com, n.d). When used as a verb, to privilege means to “accord a higher value or superior position to” (dictionary.com, n.d.). White Privilege is the set of systemic, unearned, and often unacknowledged advantages granted to White people (McIntosh,1989). Privilege is largely unacknowledged by those who have it often because they don’t even realize they have it (Kinney & Bright, 2021). Privilege is not a reflection of a particular person and their want to oppress others but rather the systems and structures in which the person lives. The ways of being for privileged identities hold more cultural capital than those of marginalized identities.
I’ve found it can be easier to see your privilege when you conceptualize it as not as one group getting extra things given but rather about which barriers you don’t have to overcome or things that you just don’t have to think about to stay safe, gain access to something, or achieve a dream. An example that comes to mind is the ability to be out alone after dark. I often teach night classes and have to walk to my car late after dark. As a woman, I know that being out alone, at night, increases my risk of being the victim of crime. When walking to my car at night, I make an effort to park as close to the building as possible, make plans to walk out with a group of people, and carry pepper spray. Meanwhile, my husband, who works late in the hospitality industry, regularly walks home from work at midnight. He said he never minds the walk because he enjoys walking in the peace and quiet of the middle of the night. My husband’s lack of concern about his safety while out at night is an example of male privilege. He doesn’t want me to be unsafe, but he also just doesn’t have to think about his own safety.
As people working in disability services, a part of our job is to assist families in navigating a world that creates barriers for people with disabilities. A common occurrence in my practice was to accompany families into community spaces and coach them through developmental interventions with their children in real-time. If the child had no or only minor physical disabilities, we could go to the closest local park and play on the playground. Conversely, for the children who used a walker or wheelchair, we often couldn’t go to the local park. Many parks aren’t built to be accessible to wheelchairs or may have wood chips that prohibit the use of a walker. For these families, a trip to the park usually involved research to find an accessible park and then a fair amount of driving to get there. The ability to access the local park is an example of ability privilege. It’s something that we should all have but often don’t because of how society privileges the identities of the mythical norm.
Most of us have a privilege based on our social identities. For example, to be an early intervention provider, we all have to have at least some college. Many of us have advanced degrees. These advanced degrees mean that everyone in our field has educational privilege. We can access the jobs we want because of the status afforded to us through our education.We have to confront the privileged parts of our identity and the ways that those of us who fit into the mythical norm benefit from our social identities.
In contrast, folks with marginalized identities are discriminated against or otherwise harmed because of the ways they do not. Acknowledging your privilege or being asked to check your privilege isn’t about blame. Rather, “It’s about challenging the system that perpetuates inequality” (Ramsey, 2016).
