Privilage, Power and Difference
In his book Privilege, Power and Difference, Allan Johnson argues that by changing the way we think and speak about privilege and power, we can change how we act, thereby changing how we interact with others. Johnson asserts that we are born into a society with pre-established ideas regarding privilege and systems of oppression. He encourages the reader to reflect on personal experiences and consider how they contribute to privilege and power in society.
Chapter 1
In chapter 1, Johnson writes “We are not prisoners to some natural order that pits us hopelessly and endlessly against one another. We are prisoners to something, but it’s closer to our own making than we realize. And we, therefore, are far from helpless to change it ourselves”. This quote highlights how these ideas of power and privilege are not innate, but that they are formed over time by our interactions with people and world around us. And since the problem was created by humans, we have the power to correct it.
Chapter 2
In chapter 2, Johnson dives deeper into the idea that “… you can’t deal with a problem if you don’t name it; once you name it, you can think, talk and write about it”. Talking about racism, oppression, privilage, etc. is uncomfortable and often evokes feelings of anger, defensiveness and blame, and also feelings of having done something wrong. Johnson’s hope is that by using the words openly, readers will begin to understand that their meaning isn’t personal, but reflective of something larger.
Chapter 3
In chapter 3, Johnson talks about fear and being afraid. One of the many quotes that I found thought provoking was “There is nothing inherently frightening about what we don’t know. If we feel afraid, it isn’t what we don’t know that frightens us, it’s what we think we do know”. I think the root of our inability to shift power and privilege is fear. Fear of change, fear of losing, fear of feeling ashamed and/or being blamed, Fear of less than, or just fear of the unknown. The passage made me think of how curious and fearless small children are before they have been “taught” what they should fear and how that is all a learned behavior.
This reading by Allan Johnson paired well with our first class and the Yes/No activity. The Yes/No activity provided opportunities for uncomfortable discussion as well as examples of ways that power and privilege are present, even in seemingly “harmless” ways.
Hi Amanda! Thank you for sharing. I liked what you said about using our privilege. I connected with the same area of the reading regarding gaining awareness about our privilege and how it takes the work of the privileged and oppressed to create real change. The quote you linked at the end captures this idea perfectly!
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda, I agree, talking about privilege, power, and racism is not an easy discussion and often can be pushed under the rug because it creates discomfort, anger, defensiveness. Like Johnson says, if we can't talk about it, we cannot make the changes we need to. In order to make the change we need to understand its meaning, and in order to do that we need to have the discussions regardless of the discomfort it causes because the real pain comes from the suffering it actually causes.
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