White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack, by Peggy Mcintosh illustrates an image of white superiority over other colored people. Peggy knapsack is lecturer and associate director at the Wellesley College Center where she does her research. Specifically focusing on women, gender equality and multi culture. Her legitimacy derives out of being some of the firsts scholars to examine whites to be measured in racial categories. Beginning with one of her first arguments, the author states that much like men having hierarchy over women, white colored people have immunities that people of colored skin do not. Just as she said “Describing white privilege makes one newly accountable. As we in women’s studies work to reveal male privilege and ask men…
I appreciate and thought the essays were illuminating. Peggy McIntosh’s piece was the most persuasive because it goes into specifics that allows readers to make personal and thus stronger connections. In closing, a point, I would like to raise about white privilege is that there is definitely individual variation in experience. Some European Americans have had it easier than others, most likely because they came from wealthy families that gave them even more privilege that just being white. Some European Americans have had it tougher than others because they came from families with less means.…
Peggy McIntosh and Tim Wise talks about white privilege; Peggy McIntosh explains how she enjoyed the white privilege through her life experience. She mentions how she always feels comfortable in public places when she uses credit card and checks or even browses in stores. She will never notice any shadowed or suspicious looks from security guards. Not only that, Peggy talks about how white privilege makes her life easier as a parent. In the Same way Tim Wise shows in his lecture that white men will be less likely to be stopped by authorities to search his car, unlike Latino and black African. In other hand, Peggy McIntosh explains how white person action doesn’t reflect on his race. Tim Wise agreed with her when he talks about white people…
white people deny such a privilege, and what the conditions of this privilege does for…
Privilege is obtained by a person and everyone has an inherent privilege. Peggy McIntosh however believed some benefit from their privilege more, particularly men and whites. She believes that there is an unrecognized white privilege and those who benefit from it need to acknowledge it. She goes deeply in defining this privilege so everyone who is reading has a very clear understanding of what white privilege is. It is necessary for her to convince us to believe that white privilege is an unearned power for white people that exists and it is a product of our society.…
As a white female who is a part of the upperclass society, I have grown up with an immense amount of privilege. I am normally valued as an important part of conversations and I have never had to prove myself as intelligent to the opposite gender, or had to work harder to reach my goals due to the colour of my skin. As Peggy McIntosh says in White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, “white privilege is like an invisible knapsack of special provisions, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks.” After becoming exposed to the concept that I am extremely privileged, I became less naive about the subject in order to understand and connect to all individuals on a equal level. The article written by Peggy McIntosh set me onto the…
As I was reading her article, it remains me of a quote: “ fish don't know they are in water.” It makes me think of the white people as a fish and the white privilege as the water. Ones lose the sense to identify a certain element in their daily life. The white people overlooked the community's selective advantage for them and take it for granted. In the beginning of the passage, McIntosh talks about how men are unwilling to admit to their superior advantage to the women's.…
In the book Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan G. Johnson he talks about the different troubles and issues dealing with privilege, the differences in this society, power, gender and race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social class, and disability standing. He talks about his own experiences backing it up with facts, memoirs, and other documents.…
Over the past few weeks I have been observing how people with different race, ethnicity, religion, etc. are looked at differently and treated. Some stories I am going to share are of past experiences that I sought in the past few years. Most of these recordings have been in the workplace and one of a friend that kindly shared her experience with me. While doing these recordings on a notebook piece of paper, it hit me that life is not fair sometimes. People are cruel and don’t care what they say or do; hurt people. I myself never realized how I looked at people differently until this assignment.…
This privilege often times comes with unknowing advantages, which only increase the groups’ chances to have success. An example of this can be seen in how certain people portray whites versus blacks. For example, let’s say a woman is walking late at night and stumbles across an African-American individual. This woman might wrongfully portray that individual as a mugger or even worse force herself to take a different route home just because she believes her life might be in danger if she crosses paths with this particular individual. Whereas, if a woman stumbles across a white individual the chances of her switching sidewalks are relatively low, thanks to stereotypes depicting black individuals as dangerous individuals and whites as harmless for the most…
However, depending on the person, it can be used as a source of power. For example,” White privilege is not something that white people necessarily do, create, or on purpose.” as told by On Racism and White Privilege. This shows that Caucasian privilege is denied by a white person, when they know the truth , yet others like people of color or who are not white see it clearly. Europeans/Caucasians are not taught about white privilege, so they are not aware of their privileges they have been given for generations. Based upon color, they are given ‘perks’ such as lighter prison sentences, they find work easier, little harassment by police, and the list goes a long way. People of color do not receive these benefits at readily all. This is significant because Caucasians are shown more care and treatment than other races and ethnicities. With this result, Europeans believe they are entitled to receive more privileges due to their skin color. Caucasian privilege shapes the way we look at the world and the way we look at it. For example, “White privilege is a hidden and transparent preference that is difficult to address.” according to On Racism and White Privilege. This shows that this is a social privilege that is popular everywhere it is trying to be denied White privilege or light skins try to deny they have more advantages than people of color. They try to make it seem like everyone is equal,…
McIntosh states that this is a problem, but it is also an elephant in the room, this is mostly because nobody wants to admit that they practice INDIVIDUAL DISCRIMINATION, if one person feels discriminated against they will discriminate another person and it will continue to be a vicious cycle. McIntosh’s piece brings forth many social concerns that the majority of people do not want to discuss especially those who are at advantage because of them. And it is somewhat understandable, why would somebody what to handicap their advantages in life. But whether they are aware of it or not, whites do benefit greatly from this “WHITE PRIVILEGE”.…
There are a lot of cultural groups in the United States, which makes the country diverse. Cultural privilege and stereotyping exist in the United States. Cultural privilege is an advantage that a dominant group people have than the rest of the other groups. I believe that men have more privilege than women in the United States. I have done my interview on a woman who lives, in my neighborhood. I asked her questions about cultural privilege, stereotypes, and experiences with health care.…
In Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" one of the first appeals to text I see is logos. We see such techniques in the first few paragraphs were she goes on to use logic to explain that because male privilege obviously exists and because men, while admitting women do have a disadvantage in society, can't see their advantage in being male, then, because of interlocking hierarchies in our society, the same must go for whites when it comes to white privilege. Meanwhile for ethos, she clearly states multiple times that she is indeed white and is able to use her race as a source of credibility for the article. McIntosh uses her experience as a white citizen to list down some of the advantages she has had, or will…
The beginning of this article discusses how men exhibit privilege in society over women, and either fail to admit to the privilege, or fail to actually do anything about it. The reason being is that men would have to disadvantage themselves, in a sense. McIntosh discusses both topics of male privilege and white privilege, stating that white people have been trained to be blind to see white privilege, but wholly benefit from the phenomenon known as white privilege. McIntosh then outlines 26 different ways in which she benefits from white privilege each day. McIntosh calls white privilege an “invisible knapsack” because most people are taught recognize it and do not…