Privilege, Power, and Difference

Victoria Beausoleil
Privilege, Power, and Difference
Second Edition
By Allan G. Johnson, Ph.D.
Premise:
Active
Change
Equalities
Inequalities
Language
Future
Racism
Sexism
Power
Discrimination
Paths
Silence
Reveal
Oppression
Together
Difference
Overcome
Involved
Options
Views
Choices

Argument:
Johnson argues that we have to change pattern of privilege and inequality first by thinking about the trouble and the challenge in new and more productive ways. He believes that we must break the silence and invisibility that allow privilege and oppression to continue and accomplish individual active change to create a future filled with positive change for all.
Evidence:
1- “ The greatest barrier to change is that dominant groups, as we’ve discussed, don’t see the trouble as their trouble, which means they don’t feel obligated to do something about it”. Acknowledging ones privilege results in having to do something about it and have an active side which makes seemingly denying something exists an easy way out.
2- You cannot change people to fix the problem, but only altering whole systems will have a large affect toward accomplishing change. We have to learn to let go of the path that contains least resistance in order to open up new paths as opportunities for others to take in the future. With other paths revealed, new and improved ways of going about change are open and welcomed.
3- We need to ignore the myths that things are always the same and can never change and that one person cannot make a difference. “ It’s not unreasonable to want to make a difference, but if we have to see the final result of what we do, then we can’t be part of change that’s too gradual and long term to allow that”. We have to learn to accept change coming after a lifetime of hard work and appreciate its results no matter how many years after they are reveled.
Comments:
This piece of work did a wonderful job in revealing possible starters and enders to this nightmare of unfair privilege. It reveals solutions for the future by pointing out reasons for lack of change in the past. I felt that it was too lengthily for the topic it was addressing and the issues could have been much more strait to the point. The heading of various sub-topics were helpful in picking out important ideas and revealing what to expect in the words following each.