Chapter 4- Making Privilege Happen

I read Chapter four of the Johnson’s “Power, Privilege, and Difference” entitle making Privilege Happen. In this chapter we are given a basic overview of the how people actually make privilege happen. It is said that privilege is attached to social categories and not individuals. It also said that people are the ones that make privilege happen through what they do and don’t do in relation to others. The book gives a clear explanation of the word discrimination, which means to treat people unequally simply because they belong to a particular category. Discrimination is connected to how we think and feel about people, and prejudice plays a powerful role in this. Prejudice is a very complicated thing because it involves both ideas and feelings, another form of prejudice is known as racial prejudice. Racial Prejudice includes values that elevate whiteness above color and the belief that whites are smarter, and promotes negative feelings toward people of color. We learn just how much an impact of where a person lives really affects their life in the long run. Another important detail is also brought to our attention, which is that racism is not the only form of oppression; an ongoing epidemic also threatens women and gay men. A fact stated in the book tells that most jobs are segregated by gender; half of all workers would have to change occupations in order for women and men to be equally represented in the U.S. economy. What were also stated were the facts that black people and Latinos are significantly overly represented in clerical and support occupations, like government jobs such as mail carriers, and lower-level service and blue-collar jobs. The injustices of heterosexism, ableism, and racism affect not only the people in the categories but everyone else as well. A question that needs to be answered is how can we get more people of minority groups into higher-level jobs that can help even the gap of the between them and whites. The answer to this question would be to help disable racism and ableism to ensure others a more equal chance to qualify and attain a job of a greater level in society. I believe that the black people, and even women and gay people should have always received fair and equal treatment. I believe that everyone should be given an opportunity to prove themselves instead of being automatically disqualified for something based on a category they belong too.