that privilege meme

[firecat]

Swiped from everybody

Acknowledgment to http://quakerclass.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-privilege-do-you-have.html. The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University.

You know, for me it will be more efficient just to include the items that didn't apply and/or have complicated answers.


* Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Technically speaking, possibly not—mom was big on getting rid of stuff we weren't using. But I had access to all the books I wanted.

* The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
Insofar as I am white, yes. Insofar as I was/am fat and a geeky dresser, no. And I might argue that women and girls in general were not portrayed positively in the media in the 60s and 70s.

* Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
This trend must have come along after my time. None of my peers did, as far as I know.

* Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
I worked in the summers and that paid for a little bit.

* Had a private tutor before you turned 18
I wonder if these came along after my time, too. I mean, I know they existed before, but they seem more common now.

* Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
The clothing my mother bought me was bought new. I bought some of my own clothing at thrift stores, but that was my choice, not a necessity.

* Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
I got hand-me-down cars, but my dad worked at GM and was required to buy a GM car every year. So the hand-me-down cars I had were almost new.

* Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
Parents didn't approve of the idea, I guess. Actually, despite all the time I spent on the phone just like most teenagers, I think it never even occurred to me that I might want a phone in my room.

* Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
After my time?

* Had your own TV in your room in High School
See the bit about the phone in my room.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how many people I see responding with dismay that they score as "highly privileged" on this test, as if that meant there was something wrong with them. It doesn't mean there is something wrong with you. It just means you were given some of your opportunities and resources, and didn't start from zero. It's important to be aware of that.

Comments

[fauxklore]

One other issue is that, at least for some of us, our circumstances could have changed dramatically while we were growing up. It certainly made a huge difference to my answers when my father graduated from college and was able to get a better job, leading to our move to suburbia and so on. The public school I would have gone to had we stayed in the Bronx later became the first bilingual drug treatment center in New York City.

I also think I was always aware of my father as a true example of the American dream. He was a Holocaust survivor who came to the U.S. at age 17 with pretty much nothing and worked his way up to be an assistant director of a municipal government agency. Whatever privilege I did / do have derived from the hard work of somebody who had none.

[firecat]

Hear this, if you will, in a curious tone, not an accusatory or argumentative one:

What difference do you think it makes in your privilege if you came by it because your parent(s) worked hard vs. if you came by it because you were born into a family that already had lots of assets?

[fauxklore]

Obviously, other people don't know how I came by my privilege, so at one level it makes no difference.

But I think it makes a difference in attitude, sometimes positive and sometimes negative. I think I do have a certain amount of "there but for the grace of G-d go I" reaction to people whose life circumstances are less favorable (and, particularly, with respect to immigrants). At the same time, I can be less patient with people blaming failures on their lack of privilege since I have an example of somebody overcoming that with hard work.

In addition, I think I take less for granted than I would otherwise. I never expected to have new clothes or toys from anything other than the job lot store or to be able to travel the way I have and so on.
I suspect the answer might also be different if I had been older when my Dad finished college.

[firecat]

At the same time, I can be less patient with people blaming failures on their lack of privilege since I have an example of somebody overcoming that with hard work.

As a person with plenty of privilege who hasn't accomplished much by some standards, I may be somewhat more patient with people's failures than some. I think the motivation to work really hard to change your circumstances is a rare trait and not necessarily available to everyone. I think this way because I do have privilege, but to someone who doesn't have much, it can be hard to know that their difficulties might stem not only from a relative dearth of opportunities but also simply from not having a superabundance of ambition and energy.

[fauxklore]

That stems from differing ideas of what constitutes success and accomplishment. While I am successful in some traditional ways (having a well-paid professional job), my brother (who, since we're only a year and a half apart, had essentially the same level of privilege as I did) is a struggling musician. He has no particular ambition to work in the conventional world again.

There can also be negative expectations in some communities for people who are ambitious. His ex-wife, who grew up at a lower socio-economic level, didn't have much encouragement for going to college and was somewhat looked down on for spending years in school getting a master's.

[bunnybutt.livejournal.com]

I was also part of a family that "transcended" their class during my childhood. Starting out my folks were lower middle class escaping into the enlisted military; later, my mom put herself through school working in the strawberry fields, and she drug us pretty single handedly into her peception of the middle to upper middle class, though financially we never really cleared that hurdle.

My answers "before age 10" and "after age 10" would be hugely different, though not in a tangible financial way (e.g. cars, private schools, etc).

It had huge impact on our privilege levels, mostly because of her expectations for/upon us. I don't think it necessarily improved our lot in life, or made us better people, but it certainly made us aware of class in a way we hadn't been before. My sister pretty much took to it like a duck, and married privilege, and lives a pretty standard upper middle class life. I didn't, so much, and am more comfortable in a less ornamented environment.

[ailbhe]

"Whatever privilege I did / do have derived from the hard work of somebody who had none."

Surely this is true of everyone, depending on how many generations back you want to go?

[fauxklore]

The people I've met who come from generations of privilege seem entirely unaware that anybody had ever worked for anything and that they weren't automatically entitled to everything they had by virtue of being born. I won't claim that's a large enough sample size to be statistically valid, though.

[firecat]

You've now "met" one who figured out different.

[ailbhe]

I know several counter-examples (ie rich people who are appalled by social inequalities), but I also know a lot of people who figure "If I could pull myself up by my bootstraps everyone oughta" and use that as an excuse to think others are "less deserving".