Thoughts on Privilege



Thoughts on Privilege

Society for Counseling Psychology, Special Task Group on Exploring Privilege

APA 2011

“*%&* you for wanting to talk about homophobia while you exploit the desperation of undocumented immigrants to clean your hallways bathe your children and cook your dinner

for less than you and I spend on our tax deductible lunch!” (from Stacyann Chin's speech at the Gay Games VII)

"Even if people from dominant groups are aware of their social status, they don't feel privileged or powerful. Most people are struggling to live their lives. They worry about their jobs, their families, their health. They personally don't have access to great amounts of resources or make decisions that affect the nation. More people feel controlled, rather than in control." (Goodman, 2001, p. 33)

"Resistance stems from fear and discomfort. Because we are asking people to question their fundamental belief systems, it makes sense that people feel threatened and act resistant." (Goodman, 2001, p. 63)

"When it comes to privilege, it doesn't really matter who we really are. What matters is who other people think we are, which is to say, the social categories they put us in." (Johnson, 2001, p. 35)

"If you have come to help me you are wasting your time.  But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."  Aboriginal Activists Group

"Like many other Maori undergraduate students who attended university in the 1970s I read some texts for my formal course of study and another set of alternative readings to keep sane, to keep connected to the rest of my life and, more importantly, to make sense of things that were happening around me. Much of that alternative reading course is now collected in anthologies labelled as cultural studies." (Linda Tuhiwai Smith).

“One frustrated woman voiced the nagging worry of many. ‘I want to do something, but what can I do? I’m just one person, an average person. I can’t have an impact. I live with the despair of my own powerlessness. I can’t bring myself to do anything. The world is so screwed up, and I have so little power. I feel so paralyzed’… The problem is not that we have so little power. The problem is that we don’t use the power that we have” (Goska, 2004, pp. 47, 49)

For more info regarding the STG, please contact Rebecca Toporek, STG Chair, rtoporek@sfsu.edu

Resources

Books, articles, and journals:

▪ Adams, M., Bell, M., & Griffin, P. (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

▪ Anderson, S. K. & Middleton, V. A. (Eds.) (2005). Explorations in privilege, oppression, and diversity. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

▪ Butler, Judith. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

▪ Castricano, J. (2002). A modem of one's own: The subject of cyberfeminism. Rhizomes. Retrieved from

▪ Dressel, Kerr & Stevens (2010). Developing Competency with White Identity and Privilege.   In Cornish, Schrier, Nadkarni, Metzger and Rodolfa (Eds.), The Handbook of  Multicultural Counseling Competencies, Wiley.

Johnson, A. G. (2001) Power, privilege and difference. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.

▪ Journal for Specialists in Group Work (2010) - Special Issue on Group Work and Social Justice (Volume 35, Issues 1 and 2)

▪ Kincheloe, J. L. & McLaren, P. (2005). Rethinking critical theory and qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.) The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

▪ Liu, W.M., Pickett, T., Jr., & Ivey, A.E.  (2007). White Middle-Class privilege: Social class bias and implications for training and practice.  Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 35, 194-206.

▪ McIntosh, P. (1998). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. In M. McGoldrick (Ed.), Re-visioning family therapy: Race, culture, and gender in clinical practice (pp. 147-152), New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.

▪ Messner, M. A. (2000). White guy habitus in the classroom: Challenging the reproduction of privilege. Men and Masculinities, 2(4), 457-468.

▪ Rains, F. V. (1998). Is the benign really harmless?: Deconstructing some “benign” manifestations of operationalized white privilege. In J. L. Kincheloe, S. R. Steinberg, N. M. Rodriguez, & R. E. Chennault (Eds.) White reign, pp. 77-101. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

▪ Raheim, S.,  White, C., Denborough, D., Waldegrave, C., Tamasese, K., Tuhaka, F., Frankline, A, Fox, H., & Carey, M. (unknown date). An invitation to narrative practitioners to address privilege and dominance. International Journal of Narrative Therapy & Community Work. Retrieved from Sept 15, 2009 from

▪ Schlosser, L. Z. (2003). Christian privilege: Breaking a sacred taboo. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 31(1), 44-51.

▪ Watkins, M. & Shulman, H. (2008). From bystanding toward engaged witness. In M. Watkins & H. Shulman, Toward Psychologies of Liberation (pp. 64-84), New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

▪ Watt, S. K. (2007). Difficult Dialogues, Privilege and social justice: Uses of the Privileged Identity Exploration (PIE) Model in student affairs practice, Special Issue on Difficult Dialogues, College Student Affairs Journal, 26(2), 114-125.

▪ Wildman, S. M. & Davis, A. D. (1996). Making systems of privilege visible. In S. M. Wildman Privilege revealed: Howe invisible preference undermines America (pp. 7-24). New York, NY: New York University Press.

▪ Wise, T. (2008). White like me: Reflections on race from a privileged son. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press.

Websites:

▪ Gay men living with disabilities -

▪ Multicultural Pavilion

▪ Taking Action Against Racism: 

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