This brief book is a groundbreaking tool for students and non-students alike to examine systems of privilege and difference in our society. Written in an accessible, conversational style, it links theory with engaging examples in ways that enable readers to see the underlying nature and consequences of privilege and their connection to it. This extraordinarily successful book has been used across the country, both inside and outside the classroom, to shed light on issues of power and privilege. (from the publisher)
The new third edition has been thoroughly updated, from the Obama presidency, same-sex marriage, the Occupy Movement, and Black Lives Matter to the election of Donald Trump. It includes a fifty percent increase in source citations (for the skeptical reader), a new glossary, and an epilogue that explores how conflicting worldviews can make issues of privilege and oppression so difficult to deal with.
Author(s): Allan G. Johnson
Edition: 3
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 189
City: New York
Tags: social justice,social work,privilege,Allan G Johnson
About the Author vii
Introduction ix
Chapter 1 We’re in Trouble 1
The Trouble We’re In 5
Chapter 2 Privilege, Oppression, and Difference 12
Difference Is Not the Problem 12
Mapping Difference: Who Are We? 13
The Social Construction of Difference 17
What Is Privilege? 20
Two Types of Privilege 21
Privilege as Paradox 23
Oppression: The Flip Side of Privilege 32
Chapter 3 Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination 35
How Capitalism Works 36
Capitalism and Class 39
Capitalism, Difference, and Privilege: Race and Gender 40
The Matrix of Domination and the Paradox of Being Privileged and Oppressed At the Same Time 44
Chapter 4 Making Privilege and Oppression Happen 47
Avoidance, Exclusion, Rejection, and Worse 49
A Problem for Whom? 53
Page iv
And That’s Not All 56
We Cannot Heal Until the Wounding Stops 59
Chapter 5 The Trouble with the Trouble 60
Chapter 6 What It Has to Do with Us 66
Individualism: Or, the Myth That Everything Bad Is Somebody’s Fault 66
Individuals, Systems, and Paths of Least Resistance 68
What It Means to Be Involved in Privilege and Oppression 72
Chapter 7 How Systems of Privilege Work 76
Dominance and Control 76
Identified with Privilege 80
The Center of Attention 84
The Isms 88
The Isms and Us 90
Chapter 8 Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance 92
Deny and Minimize 92
Blame the Victim 94
Call It Something Else 95
It’s Better This Way 95
It Doesn’t Count If You Don’t Mean It 96
I’m One of the Good Ones 99
Not My Job 102
Sick and Tired 103
Getting Off the Hook by Getting On 105
Chapter 9 What Can We Do? 107
Page v
The Myth That It’s Always Been This Way, and Always Will 108
Gandhi’s Paradox and The Myth of No Effect 110
Stubborn Ounces: What Can We Do? 114
Epilogue: A Worldview Is Hard to Change 135
Acknowledgments 142
Glossary 144
Notes 151
Resources 169
Credits 182
Index 183
