One way to understand racial inequality may be to investigate the antithesis of racial disadvantage: racial privilege. One cannot exist, necessarily, without the other. It is easy for other privileges or disadvantages (e.g., class, gender) to obfuscate one’s racial position. The challenge is to isolate each and understand them in their own terms. For this exercise, you will focus on race.
As such, read Peggy McIntosh’s classic essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.”
Reflect on how McIntosh’s concept of “white privilege” might help you (or does not help you) to understand sociologically how racial inequality works and what you can do about it. For additional insight, consider your own experience in which you might have gained or lost something simply because of who you are or the color of your skin, not because of your merit, or lack thereof. Please explain your position, whatever it might be, using sociological reasoning AND NOT SIMPLY PRESENT YOUR OWN OPINIONS or assumptions as assertions.
The essay must sufficiently engage with the assigned texts ( “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” ) and the theoretical and conceptual issues presented in this section of the reading.
Learning goal: understand racial inequality sociologically
Demonstrate capacity to investigate diversity in the U.S by applying key concepts related to social inequalities to social problems