Title: Privilege
Headings: Privilege
Privilege
W. E. B. Du Bois
"Checking Privilege" as Social Justice
C. Wright Mills
The Privilege Institute

Content: The newspapers specialized on news that flattered the poor whites and almost utterly ignored the Negro except in crime and ridicule. ~ W. E. B. Du Bois
"Checking Privilege" as Social Justice
It's now common to hear people telling others to check their privilege. This popular rebuke suggests that identifying and describing privilege is, in part, a project aimed at promoting equality or equity across different social groups. In other words, privilege isn't only discussed in academic circles; it's also discussed by activists as a means of promoting social justice. There are two features of the privilege concept, which help explain why use of the term has grown in activist circles over the past decade. First, privileges are often invisible to those who have them, and this quality of being difficult to see suggests that one can promote social justice simply by making privilege more visible. Second, privileges are unearned benefits that are available to dominant groups (e.g., whites, men, the rich, heterosexuals, able-bodied people, etc.); yet members of these groups rely on such benefits to acquire resources, power, and to reacquire their privileges. By showing people that dominant groups are only able to remain dominant by taking advantage of benefits they never earned, activists hope to appeal to basic norms of fairness.