Blog 1-Johnson, Privilege, Power and Difference

Weathering Due to Oppression 

    Blog 1

Title: Privilege, Power, and Difference

Author: Allan G. Johnson

Point 1: 

We look to other people to tell us that we measure up, that we matter, that we’re okay.

-get put into categories based on our gender, race, sexuality

-can’t change what we are born into.

Point 2:

But these groups can’t do it on their own, because they don’t have the power to change entrenched systems of privilege by themselves. If they could do that, there wouldn’t be a problem in the first place.

-Need the privilege to recognize the problem and be on board to change the society's views. 

-Scared of how the world may change and not favor them. 

Point 3:

That whites as a social category oppress people of color as a social category, for example is social fact. That doesn’t, however, tell us how a particular white person thinks or feels about particular people of color or behaves towards them.

-As a white heterosexual female, I have to admit the oppression of females and the privileges of white heterosexuals. Although I do not agree with these idealologies I can not deny that they exist and people suffer.

Argument:

This author, Allan G. Johnson, argues that there are societal privileges that come with being a particular gender, race, sexuality, and class. This author identifies as being a white, heterosexual male in the middle class, all of which is under the privileged category. If you do not fall into this category, you experience oppression in some way, shape, or form. Most of the privileges/oppression that people experience are something they are born into and cannot control. He believes that to change this construct, whether you practice these oppressive behaviors or not, you must begin by acknowledging the problem. It is often hard for the people who are in the privileged category to admit to this construct, whether it be due to being guilty of these ideologies or fear of change. Also, they cannot understand firsthand what this oppressive population experiences and take their favored status for granted. Depending on the category you get put into is how you get treated by society. The oppressed are not considered individually but grouped into a certain “class or category.” However, the start to change is through the privileged category of the white, heterosexual male in acknowledging this societal norm; if the oppressed had the power to change things, they would have already. Whether one wants to admit it or not, privileges are present, and there are concrete facts to prove that certain races, gender, and sexuality get preferential treatment.

In conclusion, the privileged admitting to the construct does not make them guilty and should not get defensive. Although you may belong to a privileged group, does not mean you think negatively of people who belong to oppressive groups.