Difference, Power and Privilege Diversity Literacy Week 1 / Lecture 1 Prepared by Claire Kelly

The Diversity Wheel Work Background Income Parental Status Geographic Location Religious Beliefs African Traditions Education Marital Status Age Race Sexual / affectional orientation Gender Ethnicity Physical abilities / qualities Adapted from Loden & Rosener’s Diversity Wheel cited in Johnson, A. G. (2001). Privilege, power and difference (Chapters 3 & 8). Boston: McGraw-Hill. (p & ) Prepared by Claire Kelly

The Diversity Wheel  Doesn’t say much about you as an individual but says volumes about social reality i.e. your positioning.  Not all difference is created equal: inner and outer circle.  What is the difference between the inner and outer circle? Prepared by Claire Kelly

Difference & Power  The problem is not difference, the problem is that our world is organized to use difference to exclude, oppress, devalue, discredit  Different positioning confers different opportunities i.e. difference access to resources  Why and how such patterns come about, why are they maintained? Prepared by Claire Kelly

Difference as Social Construct  Social structuring is a social process : what we experience as real is a cultural creation  Differences only become significant if we live in a culture that recognizes them as such  Differences change over time but are generally long lasting  Rarely, if ever, experienced as such - just the way things are  “Difference maintained by a normative order that supports those who accept the division and constrains those who seek to alter it.” (Payne, p. 242) Prepared by Claire Kelly

Unsettling the normative order….  Insert: Picture of Piet Dlamini who is an African man (black) and also an Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB)supporter, which is awhite supremacist organization.  man.html man.html  +&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en- ZA:official&client=firefox-a +&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en- ZA:official&client=firefox-a Prepared by Claire Kelly

Unsettling the normative order….  Insert: Picture of Thomas Beatie, who is the “man who fell pregnant.” Beatie is a transgender male.   Prepared by Claire Kelly

Privilege  Insert: Picture of a cartoon demonstrating white privilege. You can choose any “white privilege” image that you think your audience will understand.  right-or-is-it/ right-or-is-it/  /04/whiteness-and-white-privilege-paradigm.html /04/whiteness-and-white-privilege-paradigm.html Prepared by Claire Kelly

Privilege  “When one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to” (McIntosh)  You don’t have to do anything for it  Privilege is structural : “The path of least resistance”  Social position versus subjective experience: The power of privilege is that it rarely experienced as such. Prepared by Claire Kelly

Privilege / Normativity  Insert: Thembinkosi Goniwe, “Untitled”. Picture of a black man and a white man, both with white plasters on their faces. The plaster appears very obvious that it was made for white skin.  e01a.jpg e01a.jpg Prepared by Claire Kelly

Privilege / Normativity  Insert : A picture normalizing and privileging maleness. The picture used for the class is an image of stick figures, and the one says to the other “women suck at maths.”  nder-difference-in-math-ability-variability-driven- by-social-inequality-study/ nder-difference-in-math-ability-variability-driven- by-social-inequality-study/ Prepared by Claire Kelly

How Privilege Works  Three characteristics of systems of privilege:  dominated by: positions of power, power looks “natural”, entitlement  identified with: standard, the norm  centred: path of least resistance is to focus on them Prepared by Claire Kelly

Divisions, privilege and us  Individuals positioned and constrained but we are not wholly given… “path of least resistance” not the only path  Thomas Beattie & Piet Dlamini  To follow the “path of least resistance”, however, is to sanction the power relations that plots the route of the path – it’s like standing still on a moving train (Howard Zinn) Prepared by Claire Kelly

Extra References  Zinn, H. (1995) You can't be neutral on a moving train: A personal history of our times. Boston: Beacon Press Prepared by Claire Kelly