{"id":260,"date":"2024-10-10T14:56:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T14:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/chapter\/what-is-privilege\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T15:42:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T15:42:35","slug":"what-is-privilege","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/chapter\/what-is-privilege\/","title":{"raw":"What is \"Privilege?\"","rendered":"What is &#8220;Privilege?&#8221;"},"content":{"raw":"[pb_glossary id=\"1887\"]\"Privilege\"[\/pb_glossary]\u00a0means the advantages that come from being part of a dominant or majority group (White, male, heterosexual, non-disabled, etc. ).\r\n\r\nWhen we think about racism and discrimination, we often think about deliberate acts towards a disadvantaged group \u2013 hurtful words, tasteless jokes, exclusion from work or school, and so on \u2013 but it can just as easily take the form of privileges given to members of a more advantaged group. Unlike those other forms of discrimination, these advantages may go unnoticed by members of the advantaged group for a variety of\u00a0reasons:\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The benefits of privilege are, for those who enjoy them, the ordinary conditions of daily life and are likely to be seen as \u201cnormal\u201d rather than the result of an imbalance of\u00a0power.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Thinking about privilege means looking at our own lives. To accept that we benefit from privilege is to accept that our successes are not 100 percent the product of our hard work, but are also because of advantages we received that were denied to others.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Because privilege is taken for granted, people can feel like they are being personally criticized when confronted with discussions of privilege. In order to spare feelings or save face, people often deny that privilege\u00a0exists.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Privilege is built into how our society works. A big part of privilege is opportunities that are not available to members of non-privileged groups. As a result, the benefits of privilege may seem small, but missing out on them can cause serious setbacks and can significantly narrow one\u2019s\u00a0horizons.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s important to understand that being a member of a privileged group doesn\u2019t mean that everything is easy for you, just that you don\u2019t face challenges that members of disadvantaged groups do. It\u2019s also possible (and common) to be a member of a privileged group in one respect (race, sex, etc.) and a member of a disadvantaged group in another.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","rendered":"<p><a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_260_1887\">\"Privilege\"<\/a>\u00a0means the advantages that come from being part of a dominant or majority group (White, male, heterosexual, non-disabled, etc. ).<\/p>\n<p>When we think about racism and discrimination, we often think about deliberate acts towards a disadvantaged group \u2013 hurtful words, tasteless jokes, exclusion from work or school, and so on \u2013 but it can just as easily take the form of privileges given to members of a more advantaged group. Unlike those other forms of discrimination, these advantages may go unnoticed by members of the advantaged group for a variety of\u00a0reasons:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The benefits of privilege are, for those who enjoy them, the ordinary conditions of daily life and are likely to be seen as \u201cnormal\u201d rather than the result of an imbalance of\u00a0power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Thinking about privilege means looking at our own lives. To accept that we benefit from privilege is to accept that our successes are not 100 percent the product of our hard work, but are also because of advantages we received that were denied to others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Because privilege is taken for granted, people can feel like they are being personally criticized when confronted with discussions of privilege. In order to spare feelings or save face, people often deny that privilege\u00a0exists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Privilege is built into how our society works. A big part of privilege is opportunities that are not available to members of non-privileged groups. As a result, the benefits of privilege may seem small, but missing out on them can cause serious setbacks and can significantly narrow one\u2019s\u00a0horizons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to understand that being a member of a privileged group doesn\u2019t mean that everything is easy for you, just that you don\u2019t face challenges that members of disadvantaged groups do. It\u2019s also possible (and common) to be a member of a privileged group in one respect (race, sex, etc.) and a member of a disadvantaged group in another.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"glossary\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\" id=\"definition\">definition<\/span><template id=\"term_260_1887\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_260_1887\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>\u201cPrivilege\u201d means the advantages that come from being part of a dominant or majority group (White, male, heterosexual, non-disabled, etc. ).<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-260","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":257,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1888,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/260\/revisions\/1888"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/257"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/260\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}