privilege, identity models, communication (lecture 3) Flashcards
what does privilege do
- It skews our personal interactions and judgments and
- Veiled in the language
- What we do (non-verbals and behavior)
- It contributes to or blinds us to systemic barriers for those who do not possess a certain privilege, thereby creating or perpetuating inequity
- Impacts everything and all opportunities afforded to us
- Privilege is invisible to people who have it
what is the cost of privilege
- Cognitive distortion of the self (if I have privilege then I think I got this because of something I did, but you are already 100 yards ahead; also a cognitive distortion of reality, why can’t other people hold hands down the street and show PDA?, denying the existence of homophobia; interpersonal cost, when you have privilege you can associate yourself with people who look like you and who will validate your experience, limited engagement with diversity); look through lens of stereotypes; physical and psychological consequences (ex. Men and masculinity and expressing emotions, taking steroids to bulk up there are mental and physical consequences)
- Led to believe that they have earned the privileges that they enjoy, done something right, or that everyone could have access to these privileges if only they worked to earn them.
- Unlike targets of oppression, people in dominant groups are frequently unaware that they are members of the dominant group due to the privilege of being able to see themselves as persons rather than stereotypes.
- As long as the institutions of society are designed to provide us with privilege, we will get these privileges whether we want them or not.
-Not sufficient just to acknowledge it but to know how we benefit from it?
Ex. Band aids and makeup are sold in the color of white people, peach crayon used to be called “flesh”
benefits of privilege
- Your humanity is safe
- Benefit of the doubt
- White people are less likely to be followed, interrogated or searched by law enforcement
- If white people are accused of a crime, they are less likely to be presumed guilty and severity of punishment is less.
- Less likely to be accused of “maybes” or ”what ifs” or “there is more to the story” compared to those without privilege.
privilege in therapy
- Expecting the client to do work the way you want them to
- Speaking up when comfortable and not feeling forced
- Offended when transgression
- When people don’t want to explain their experience because you wouldn’t understand (you have to do your work rather than getting offended)
- Taking mobility for granted-Tim Wise discusses working in the mine vs. POC
- Certain type of job stays in the family
ex. Crack Epidemic vs. Opiod Epidemic
what is oppression
A system that maintains advantage and disadvantage based on social group memberships, and operates, intentionally and unintentionally, on individual, institutional, and cultural levels.
what is individual oppression
attitudes and actions that reflect prejudice against a social group (unintentional and intentional).
-internalized racism
what are the three kinds of oppression
individual, institution, societal/cultural
what is institution oppression
policies, laws, rules, norms, and customs enacted by organizations and social institutions that disadvantage some social groups and advantage other social groups (intentional and unintentional).
-non random victimization
what is societal/cultural oppression
social norms, roles, rituals, language, music, and art that reflect and reinforce the belief that one social group is superior to another (intentional and unintentional).
what is cultural appropration
Theft of cultural elements for one’s own use, commodification, or profit — including symbols, art, language, customs, etc. — often without understanding, acknowledgement, or respect for its value in the original culture. Results from the assumption of a dominant (i.e. white) culture’s right to take other cultural elements.
what is xenophobia
unreasonable fear, distrust, hatred of strangers or foreigners or anything perceived as different.
what is the melting pot consequence
If you assimilate as a person of color you are still treated as a person of color
what do we have to remember about race
- A socially constructed system of classifying individuals according that is not always consistent.
- Always changed based on politics and power
- Structures society, opportunities, and interactions.
- Race is both a myth and a reality
racial identity assumptions
- Racism is a reality in U.S. life and permeates all aspects of our culture and institutions.
- All people are socialized into U.S. society and, therefore, are exposed to the biases, stereotypes, and racist attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the society.
- The level of racial identity development consciousness affects the process and outcome of interracial interactions.
what is the invisibility of white racial identity
- Whiteness is transparent precisely because of its everyday occurrence—its institutionalized normative features in our culture—and because Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, average, and ideal.
- Many White people become defensive when labeled as White because they do not want to accept White privilege.
- Most White individuals perceive themselves, as most privileged groups do, as unbiased individuals who do not harbor racist thoughts and feelings, often due to the difficulty associated with acknowledging such injustices and/or lack of self-exploration.
