Privilege Revealed : How Invisible Preference Undermines America

by Wildman, Stephanie M.

• ISBN13: 9780814793039
• ISBN10: 0814793037
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-06-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

Affirmative action remains a hotly contested issue on our political landscape, yet the institutionalized systems of privilege which uphold the status quo remain unchallenged. Many Americans who advocate a merit-based, race-free worldview do not acknowledge the systems of privilege which benefit them. For example, many Americans rely on a social and sometimes even financial inheritance from previous generations. This inheritance, unlikely to be forthcoming if one's ancestors were slaves, privileges whiteness, maleness, and heterosexuality.In this important volume, scholars positioned differently with respect to white privilege examine how privilege of all forms manifests itself and how we can, and must, be aware of invisible privilege in our daily lives. Individual chapters focus on language, the workplace, the implications of comparing racism and sexism, race-based housing privilege, the dream of diversity and the cycle of exclusion, the rule of law and invisible systems of privilege, and the power of law to transform society.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
A Note about Systems of Privilege
Introduction	p. 1
Making Systems of Privilege Visible	p. 7
Privilege in the Workplace: The Missing Element in Antidiscrimination Law	p. 25
Privilege in Residential Housing	p. 43
Privilege and the Media: Treatment of Sex and Race in the Hill-Thomas Hearings Create a Legacy of Doubt	p. 67
Obscuring the Importance of Race: The Implication of Making Comparisons Between Racism and Sexism (or Other Isms)	p. 85
The Dream of Diversity and the Cycle of Exclusion	p. 103
The Quest for Justice: The Rule of Law and Invisible Systems of Privilege	p. 139
Teaching and Learning toward Transformation: The Role of the Classroom in Noticing Privilege	p. 161
Concluding Thoughts on Noticing Privilege	p. 177
Notes	p. 181
Bibliography	p. 217
Index	p. 229
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