vague thoughts on learning more about privilege

[krickets]

I'm reading this really interesting article right now about privilege, which seems to be a hot topic every now and then here in fandom. And lately I've seen a bit of chatter about the privilege meme and its meaning/shortcomings/etc. A quick google search brought up a bunch of responses from internet bloggers when the meme was first making its rounds. The reactions were kind of shocking, people angry that someone would consider them privileged for these simple things that they clearly take for granted, others suggesting that if a person didn't have these things it was because they were lazy or just didn't want them. [Thankfully I haven't seen anyone around these parts reacting in this way.]

But my interest was piqued. I feel like I basically understand what privilege is and my own level of privilege and the different ways in which privilege exists and what that all means for those who have it and those who don't, but now I kind of want to learn more. Luckily, one of the benefits of working in a library is that I can research a number of topics whenever it strikes my fancy. And I found lots of info, but the best so far is an article from the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. I'll type up a quote here, because it kind of illustrates the behavior I was seeing from some of the bloggers, but there's a lot more to it than this little blurb:

Lack of membership in privileged groups was characteristically viewed as a lack of effort. Therefore, the belief was that those denied power, access, or visibility must, by definition, have earned their exclusion and oppression because of some personal defect. This belief is often referred as the "myth of meritocracy" whereby a culture communicates that the oppressed could earn society's privileges if they were just different (e.g., more like the privileged group).

Black, Linda L., and David Stone. "Expanding the Definition of Privilege: The Concept of Social Privilege." Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development Oct. 2005: 243-55.

There are some things in the article that I, well I don't want to say disagree with, but there are some things that I think they could have done differently. But overall it's very enlightening. It's a PDF that I printed out and can't find anywhere online, so I suppose if anyone was that interested I might be willing to type it up.

I guess this entry doesn't really have an overall point, other than remarking that this is an thought-provoking subject.

Comments

[gigglemonster.livejournal.com]

After we talked about this last night I laid awake for kind of a long time thinking about it.
Just like listing off in my head all the things I'm grateful for and all the things that I probably take for granted (even though I shouldn't) like (one of the examples from the meme) having my mom read me stories and sing me to sleep when I was little.
It is indeed very thought provoking in a lot of different ways

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Sorry for keeping you up with thinky thoughts, lol. I guess I couldn't stop thinking about it either which is why I ended up looking at articles at work. I printed several but haven't had a chance to read through the majority of them, other than skimming. It's all interesting information.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

The myth of meritocracy! Yes! How I hates it. That attitude that if you just 'tried harder' you'd have the same rights. It can be so insidious and so hard to identify... though it sounds like those bloggers were pretty out there with their attitudes. Ugh.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of that before. Well, not named, though certainly in practice.

Here are some good examples of the bloggers reactions: Privilege Goes Viral (http://educationandclass.com/2008/01/04/privilege-goes-viral/)

One of the more, erm, interesting(?) examples is where someone uses the cost of an xbox game to refer to something affordable.

Anyway, it's all very fascinating.