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.
explain diversity within whites
does not exist, people are Just American; Regular; Assumption of Sameness
- Diversity within White European Americans have been ignored
- Oppression in Privilege
- “White ethnics today don’t have ethnic issues they’re totally American.” (Giordano and McGoldrick, 2003)
what is the whiteness 4-step process to racism
- Seeing White as the standard and Confirming white supremacy -othering and judgements
- Power to Impose Racial Based Reality
- Socialization Methods
- Racism
- Justification of mistreatment of POCs
- Unearned privileges
explain Janet Helms White Racial Identity model (what it does/says)
- Assumes existence of white superiority and individual, cultural, and institutional racism.
- Sees white racial identity as an oppositional identity
- Assumes individuals start with a racist identity and must first move away from such an identity before they can develop a non-racist identity
- Assumes individuals can be in more than one “stage” at a time (i.e., have multiple statuses)
- Posits that different statuses are associated with different ways of processing racial data
what are the six statuses of white racial identity
1) Contact
2) Disintegration
3) Reintegration
4) Pseudo-Independent
5) Immersion-Emersion
6) Autonomy
what are the first three statuses considered
abandonment of racism
what are the second three statuses considered
redefining positive white identity
explain the contact status
-Passivity/Denial when it comes to racial issues or privilege
-Limited interactions with non-whites.
o Exposure through media
o Surface curiosity
o Expect people of color to fit “white” criteria
o Microinsults/invalidation: “You’re not like them.”
explain the disintegration status
-Increased awareness of racial injustices because of:
o Interactions with those who are non-white.
-Most relationships still with other White people
o Cross-racial interactions feel anxiety provoking, so these interactions are limited.
o Tries to slowly bring up power and privilege with people who are White.
-Color-blindness is not present but there are feelings of guilt, discomfort, etc…Looks for signs that people who are White are not associated with racism.
explain the reintegration status
- Relatively good awareness of racial inequalities, however, people of color are to blame.
- Holds significant stereotypes about people of color and look for examples that validate these stereotypes.
- Believes in the superiority of Whites and partakes in racist jokes.
- Guilt and anxiety can manifest itself in two forms:
1) Active Expression: oppression, violence
2) Passive Expression: avoidance of people and situations
explain the pseudo independent status
- Intellectual enlightment about racism
- Begins to question heirarchy of race
- Acknowledges one’s role and group’s role in racism.
-Greater interaction with people of color
o Intellectual acceptance and curiosity about people of color
o Sincere desire to help people of color
ν Focus on helping people of color meet majority group standards (become more white)
ν Microaggressions still present
explain immersion-emersion status
- Trying to form a healthy racial identity.
- Turns to self and what it means to be White
- How can one help deal with racism?
- Feel more motivated and hopeful!
explain the autonomy status
-Internalization of healthy, positive, White identity.
o Race and people of color are no longer a threat
o No longer feels need to oppress or idealize people because of group membership
o Actively seeks to learn from other cultural/racial groups
o Increasingly aware of relatedness of various forms of oppression
o Ongoing racial self-actualization
o Guilt is replaced by motivation and commitment to fighting racism
what can we do about all of this?
- Making Whiteness visible for White people is an imperative
- Equality and even playing field
-Take an active exploration of yourselves as racial/cultural beings and the power you hold
- Oppression in power
- Earlier European immigrants
- Explore whiteness in a nondefensive manner
- Take antiracist actions
what is allyship
- A privileged individual rejects the dominant ideology and takes action against oppression to eliminate its impact on everyone
- A targeted group member working with different/other targeted social groups
- Targeted group member voices against dominant ideology to work for equity
- Oppression if Allyship is not genuine: Focus on yourself and your communities first.
- **Important to ask if the person needs or wants an ally
- **Ex. If you are a straight person of color and you know there is a lot of homophobia in communities of color, go to the community of color first before you go to someone who is LGBTQ+ and say “I want to help you”
