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

[waterowl.livejournal.com]

The big problem I have with this quiz is it covers class privilege quite extensively, but only has one line devoted to other kinds of privilege - people portrayed in the media are portrayed positively. Class privilege and sometimes being able to pass as white are the only two privileges I have. I really appreciate those privileges. And class privilege can help with a lot of other disadvantages. However it doesn't take away my daily pain or struggles with bureaucracy just to get what I and my son need to live. The main reason I'm not working (a class privilege it's true but also a disadvantage for me personally and I'm not talking about money) is that I don't have the time to work and deal with the bureaucracy. The employment figures for people with disabilities are appalling. Below 50% and I can see why. If I didn't have class privilege, I'd be on welfare, and that is the honest truth.

[kmd.livejournal.com]

The authors/creators label this as "A Social Class Awareness Experience" and are therefore very up-front with the scope of the information revealed/focused on. I agree that there are more aspects of identity and privilege and oppression that can be illuminated by these things. But I was actually grateful to see one thing tackled at a time.

[ailbhe]

I grew up very privileged but the quiz didn't cover most of my privileges. Stuff like intelligence which was recognised and encouraged, accent, the peculiarly useful mother I had, being given the ability to make and sell my own crafts as part of a necessary contribution to household finances, growing up bilingual - the quiz mainly covered financial privilege, not class privilege. Although the two are connected, they're really not the same at all.

[waterowl.livejournal.com]

Oh well that's cool then. I think class privilege is not discussed enough in the US and gets conflated with race.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking somewhat similarly to this. I didn't have any class privileges, but I was smarter than most people, performed professionally starting when I was five, and adults treated me as another adult. That's a lot of privilege.

[ailbhe]

I had almost no economic privilege but TONS of class privilege. It made things much easier in many many ways, especially when I was a homeless teenager.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

It's very much North American, and specifically USA-based. Here, "class" is very highly dependent on economics.

Racial privlege is another issue -- it's correlated with class in the United States, but racism and classism are two distinct things here.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I actually left home five times, twice before I was a teenager, but when I came back after a day because I couldn't leave my brother there, nobody had noticed. It wouldn't have been easy for me, but I don't think I could have handled things for my brother, too, when I was that young. When I was 17, I became emancipated and my brother's guardian.

[firecat]

I would love to see people add to this list.

Yes, disability really affects quality of life and opportunities.

[firecat]

Financial and class privilege may be a bit more connected in the US than in Europe.

I would love to see people add to the list.

If we're talking mainly financial privilege, the list is endless!

[ailbhe]

For at least part of my childhood, at least one of my parents regularly owned or shared ownership of a car which they could drive
The accent I acquired from living in the place I did gives me job interview advantages
My inherited intelligence was nurtured by my parent(s)
My interests or talents were encouraged by my parent(s)
I always had a warm winter coat
I had properly fitted quality shoes while my feet were growing
I had my own bed
The person who prepared most of the meals was well-informed about nutrition so most of the meals I ate were well-balanced
I was given responsibilities appropriate to my age and abilities

My family had a guest bed for overnight visitors (not a sofa, though a sofabed would count) so I got to stay in my own bed
My family had a spare bedroom for overnight visitors so everyone got to sleep undisturbed
I had access to medical care when ill, and dental healthcare (not cosmetic care) throughout childhood (whether or not I used it)
I had access to cosmetic dental care (whether or not I used it)
My family were never wholly dependent on state support (welfare?)
My family were never partially dependent on state support (welfare?)
Most of my books, toys, etc were new
I spent all of the money from my teenage jobs on myself
I always knew that there would be enough to eat
I always knew that there would be a home to sleep in (even if it was with abusive family)

[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.

[ailbhe]

I changed social classes when I moved to England. I had been impoverished upper-middle or thereabouts; now I'm comfortably-off lower-middle, stretching to middle-middle when my accent disappears.

I didn't realise, until I moved here, that one's social class is imposed from outside on one. It's almost entirely dependent on how others perceive one.

[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.

[dreamalynn.livejournal.com]

Media portrayal is a class privilege issue as well. For people from lower socio-economic groups, representations of them in news media is rarely pleasant, and in entertainment media, they're played for laughs, pity or kudos for being "up from your bootstraps" types.

[waterowl.livejournal.com]

Yes that is one of the general perks of privilege.

[waterowl.livejournal.com]

Class privileges that I didn't see. I am most definitely upper middle class by any metric, but I didn't get a new car or clothes or phone or a credit card. Those are not the values of upper middle class intelligentsia, but more what might be considered the nouveaux riche.

My accent is seen as the norm and/or educated.
My parent/s expected me to go to college.
My parent/s read parenting books even if they didn't necessarily apply the theories in said parenting books.
I had two or more parental figures actively involved in my life i.e I was not raised by a single parent, so parent and stepparent count or two co-parents living separately but I shuttled between both or I had other family figures in my life.
My parent/s took me on activities that were designed to educate me or enrich my life regardless of the cost - by this metric trips to the library would count.
My parent/s helped me with school work.
My parent/s had white collar profession/s. (I know several software engineers who never finished college)
One parent stayed at home to look after me or took time off work to spend time with me. (This is a privilege of particular kinds of jobs, but not others)
My parent/s told me I was intelligent and taught me things outside of school.

Re: If we're talking mainly financial privilege, the list is endless!

[firecat]

Good list!

[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.

[firecat]

Oh yeah, "I was expected to go to college" is huge.

On the distinction between upper/upper-middle class and nouveaux-riche - I'm not sure how old you are, but I think the personal phone has trickled way down to many people by now, since phones are much less expensive now than they were when I was growing up, and many kids have cell phones in case of emergency.

I think the credit card companies started setting up on campus a few years after my time, offering students cards in their own names secured by their parents. So I don't think that's nouveaux riche any more either.

A new (not hand-me-down and not used) car might still be.

[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.

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

I distinctly remember my 7th grade science teacher writing on a few of my exams, "You should go to college!" Looking back, I truly appreciate the thought, but at the time, it hadn't even occured to me that I *wouldn't* go to college. Education was very important to my parents, and I was always aware that that's what had made my childhood different very from theirs (well, that and World War II, but you know what I mean :p).

Re: If we're talking mainly financial privilege, the list is endless!

[ailbhe]

It's funny how some of it doesn't apply to the UK - everyone here has access at least to emergency medical and dental care, even if access to routine medical care is difficult due to being unable to take time off work etc. In Ireland and (I believe) the US, even emergency care isn't always totally free.

[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?