White people are not stereotyped like other races are. It doesn’t matter what we do, how hard we work, how much money we have, who’s ass we kiss, we’ll never experience white privileges. There are so many things minorities will never have the opportunity to experience or understand because they aren’t white. It categorizes people based on physical characteristics and shapes the way we see ourselves and others.Some of the statements McIntosh brought my attention to and made me think about the way that society treats others in comparison to the way white people are treated.Įven though society has come a long ways, it still has a longer way to go. Race is a social construction that has real consequences and effects. There are a number of people who are aware of this and some who are not. For instance, the ideology that men are more interested in performing physically tough activities while women perform tasks like raising children, cooking, embroidery and so on. The roles and behaviors give rise to gender inequalities. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behavior, and activities that the society considers appropriate for men and women. Peggy thinks that in order to change that, whites need to acknowledge their unearned power and be willing to give it up so other minority groups can enjoy the same freedom. In addition, she states that due to the idea that America was founded on a system of earned power, and due to the fact that whites have conferred privilege, other groups in this country are not free.
McIntosh points out that whites enjoy conferred privilege but refuse to acknowledge it. The distinction was clear conferred privilege is only available to certain groups while everyone has an equal shot at earned power. She also provides a distinction between earned power and conferred privilege. It’s such a small thing but the way the world generalizes can be hurtful.
#White privilege unpacking the invisible knapsack analysis skin
I thought nothing of why it didn’t blend into my skin tone perfectly when I was a child. Band-Aids are something everyone use and nude was the primary color which made me feel “they” considered normal. One of the examples that really made me think was the “flesh colored” Band-Aid example. Her examples include privileges relating to education, careers, entertainment, child care, confrontations, physical appearance, and public life. Her main idea was to inform the readers that whites are taught to ignore the fact that they enjoy social privileges that people of color do not because we live in a society of white dominance. Peggy talks about racism being a part of everyday life even though we ignore it.
I can't express what it means to know that the color of flesh is determined by someone whose privilege allows them that power.Peggy McIntosh’s piece “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” describes the privileges white people gets without realizing their advantage over others. Now my pack contains 23 statements that begin "I can't," 2 that say "I'm not," and one that begins "I need to." For example, I cannot remain unschooled in the language, customs, heroes, holidays, laws, rules, styles, values, religion, educational models, marriage rituals, birthing techniques, burial practices, gods, afterlife, heaven or hell of persons who dominate my world. I begin by placing McIntosh's positive statements in their opposite terms. As McIntosh unpacks her knapsack, I pack mine. Of the 26 items in her knapsack, 23 contain the phrase "I can," 2 contain "I am" and one contains the phrase "I need not." For example, she "can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority," and she can do so without penalty. McIntosh lists her privileges, all expressed in terms of what she and people like her can do.
In the same way, people are socially conditioned not to recognize all the unearned disadvantages stuffed into the invisible knapsack carried by people of color. McIntosh rightly observed that white persons - indeed, everyone in American society - are "conditioned into oblivion" about the existence of privilege in the United States.