Leo Labonte
Alan Johnson's Privilege Power and Difference
Alan Johnson argues that if we ignore certain words that people find "uncomfortable", we only prolong their damage and effect on our society and on people deemed below others with no privilege. Johnson says that the purpose of this reading is to change how people think, which then changes how people act and their role in the world. This then causes the world to change by people making the necessary changes to it.
Johnson mentions how there are many differences in our world. Such as a person's gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, age, education, or profession. He believes that class differences can be changed, but the other differences are much harder to change due to prejudices and beliefs that people have or make about others.
He then went on to describe certain privileges that people have over others. Men have privilege over women, white people have privilege over non-white people, and heterosexuals have privilege over homosexuals. These are the privileges that Johnson mentions, but there are many more privileges that people possess. Men tend to hold most of the more powerful positions in society while women hold few of those positions. White people have less to worry about compared to non-white people due to the resources they have, the police, or other people in their society. White families have an average wealth that is ten times that of black families. Heterosexuals don't have to worry about how their family, friends, or others may react, but homosexuals have to worry about what others may think of them or do to them.
After reading Johnson's Privilege Power and Difference I learned that if change is ever going to happen in our society everyone must unite to make a change, not just those who are facing these issues personally. You must challenge issues that don't even affect you because if the world is going to become a better place everyone has to work together. Those that have power and resources and those that don't.
In the first paragraph you mention how Alan's goal with this reading is to change how people act and think in matters regarding privilege and discrimination; I agree that it is very important for privileged groups to not only acknowledge their privilege but to also make effort to check their own biases and others around them. Only by taking action against systemic oppression can we see movement towards a better future.
ReplyDeleteIn your fourth paragraph you mention "using privilege to get rid of privilege." I like this theory because it could cause society to view, what we call privileges, only as differences and not be put into some ranking of social class or category.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with everything you said! I, too, agree that you must challenge issues that don't affect you, or you have privilege in because if you think about it, would you want to be the one being oppressed? If roles were reversed, you would want everyone to nice and fair towards you. People often look over this fact because they are in power, and think nothing could change. But, it's like that saying "walk a mile in someone else's shoes". As a society we need to have more empathy and understanding.
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