Two Article Summaries


Privilege, Power, and Difference (Johnson, 2001)

In this article, Johnson (2001) argues that privilege exists and in order to work towards dismantling it, we need to first recognize it exists and recognize the power that certain groups have in (American) society, starting with looking at our own privilege status. Privilege exists even if you don't feel like it does.  Johnson (2001) encourages people to use "the words" (i.e. white privilege, racism, oppression, dominance in order to better understand, acknowledge, and become a part of the solution to the problem of privilege and power of certain groups of people. Differences and the power certain groups of people hold are socially constructed. Those who have privilege based on race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. have the "luxury of obliviousness" to the privilege they have.  They don't have to think about it.  With each category of privilege, there is at least one group that is oppressed.



Colorblindness is the New Racism (Armstrong & Wildman, 2013)


The term "colorblindness" has been used by Whites to suggest that they do not see race, minimizing the impact that race has on privilege. The term colorblindness works for Whites because their race is the assumptive norm.  Armstrong and Wildman (2013) propose an alternative to colorblindness: color insight.  Color insight is becoming more aware of race and racial power lines and where one falls either above or below the line.  In American Culture, categories that sit above the power line are heterosexual, white, educated, males, middle or upper class, Christian, non-disabled, and fluent English speaker (with no accent). The authors give some exercises for educators to introduce to their students in order for them to begin thinking about their privilege and the privilege of others.  One exercise was to observe the racial composition of my environment for a 24 hour period and note different interactions that occur between different people, and the privileges that some people have or don’t have in those interactions.  The other exercise the authors give has to do with recognizing White as the norm through hypothetical situations, such as the example the authors give about the medical malpractice case of a physician. The authors argue that, “by exploding that default assumption [during the hypothetical situations], teachers help students make privilege visible and deepen their understanding of its operation” (Armstrong & Wildman, 2013, p. 73).

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