This guide is currently under development, including pages for subtopics exploring various ways that privileges and oppression manifest. Please email Prof. Melissa Hofmann mhofmann at rider.edu with suggestions for additional resources.
"Privilege" refers to certain social advantages, benefits, or degrees of prestige and respect that an individual has by virtue of belonging to certain social identity groups. Within American and other Western societies, these privileged social identities—of people who have historically occupied positions of dominance over others—include whites, males, heterosexuals, Christians, and the weathy, among others.
García, Justin D. 2018. “Privilege (Social Inequality).” Salem Press Encyclopedia.
![What are some types of privilege, and how can we combat privilege blindness? [Infographic. Image text trascribed below image.]](http://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/79722/images/Privilege.PNG)
Image text: What are some types of privilege, and how can we combat privilege blindness? [In different color circles] Religion, Ability, Gender Identity, Race, Class, Sexuality, Gender, Education. So what is privilege? "Privilege is the benefits and advantages held by a group in power, or in a majority, that arise because of the oppression and suppression of minority groups."* "Furthermore, privilege is, by the social justice definition, the advantages people have that they don't think about because they don't often think about because they never have to experience the oppressive side. Understanding it requires an active effort to see things from the perspective of other, underprivileged people."* And what can you do? "While you cannot get rid of your privilege, you can acknowledge it. When we force privilege into view and discuss it openly we engage in solidarity with those who do not share in certain privileges with us. Don't be afraid to make a statement, write a letter, post a blog, get into a discussion, or create dialogue and criticism in some way to comment on instances of privilege" **
So You Want to Talk about Race by 
Explorations in Diversity: Examining the Complexities of Privilege, Discrimination, and Oppression by Every person comes to know and understand their life from their own perspective. As a result, it is often difficult and sometimes unbelievable to realize that others, whom one may or may not know, might also experience daily life in a vastly different way. Explorations in Diversity offers readers the opportunity to step into the lives of diverse others and experience their lives through their eyes. Some readers may find themselves struggling to comprehend or even believe the experiences this text's authors share, or where they fit within each narrative. However, each account in this text ultimately aims to open minds, hearts, and mouths in ways that push each of us toward a better understanding of our own privileged statuses so that we can use who we are, what we say, and what we do to make our society more accepting and inclusive of all our diverse representations.
Undoing Privilege: Unearned Advantage in a Divided World by For every group that is oppressed, another group is privileged. In Undoing Privilege, Bob Pease argues that privilege, as the other side of oppression, has received insufficient attention in both critical theories and in the practices of social change. As a result, dominant groups have been allowed to reinforce their dominance. Undoing Privilege explores the main sites of privilege, from Western dominance, class elitism, and white and patriarchal privilege to the less-examined sites of heterosexual and able-bodied privilege. Pease points out that while the vast majority of people may be oppressed on one level, many are also privileged on another. He also demonstrates how members of privileged groups can engage critically with their own dominant position, and explores the potential and limitations of them becoming allies against oppression and their own unearned privilege. This is an essential book for all who are concerned about 
White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism by Studies of racism often focus on its devastating effects on the victims of prejudice. But no discussion of race is complete without exploring the other side--the ways in which some people or groups actually benefit, deliberately or inadvertently, from racial bias. This is the subject of Paula Rothenberg's groundbreaking anthology, White Privilege. The new edition of White Privilege once again challenges readers to explore ideas for using the power and the concept of white privilege to help combat racism in their own lives, and includes key essays and articles by Peggy McIntosh, Richard Dyer, bell hooks, Robert Jensen, Allan G. Johnson, and others. Three additional essays add new levels of complexity to our understanding of the paradoxical nature of white privilege and the politics and economics that lie behind the social construction of whiteness, making this edition an even better choice for educators. Brief, inexpensive, and easily integrated with other texts, this interdisciplinary collection of commonsense, non-rhetorical readings lets educators incorporate discussions of whiteness and white privilege into a variety of disciplines, including sociology, English composition, psychology, social work, women's studies, political science, and American studies.
Seeing White by This interdisciplinary textbook challenges students to see race as everyone's issue. Drawing on sociology, psychology, history, and economics, Seeing White introduces students to the concepts of white privilege and social power. Seeing White is designed to help break down some of the resistance students feel in discussing race. Each chapter opens with compelling concrete examples to help students approach issues from a range of perspectives. The early chapters build a solid understanding of privilege and power, leading to a critical exploration of discrimination. Key theoretical perspectives include cultural materialism, critical race theory, and the social construction of race. Each chapter includes discussion questions to help students evaluate institutions and policies that perpetuate or counter forces of privilege and discrimination.The website www.seeingwhite.org includes multidisciplinary demonstrations, activities, examples, and images for researchers and instructors who seek to explain racism and reveal white privilege.
Introducing Intersectionality by How can we hope to understand social inequality without considering race, class, and gender in tandem? How do they interact with other categories such as sexuality, citizenship, and ableism? How does an inclusive analysis of domination and privilege move us closer to solutions touching the lives of diverse populations? In this clearly written book, Mary Romero presents intersectionality as a core facet of the sociological imagination. One-dimensional approaches are no longer acceptable. Instead, we must examine all systems of oppression simultaneously and how they integrate and work with or against each other to shape life experiences. Recognizing the dynamics of patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy, Romero shows how social inequality is maintained or minimized in various social settings and everyday sites of interaction. Drawing the theoretical threads together, the book demonstrates intersectional approaches in action in relation to the care crisis and wealth divide, to highlight the different understandings of these issues and their solutions arising from a comprehensive, intersectional examination. Offering an overview of scholarly and activist tradition in the development of intersectionality and how to apply intersectionality as a lens to enrich our understandings of social life, this introductory text will be an invaluable and welcome resource for all students of sociology.
White Fragility by 
Deconstructing Privilege: Teaching and Learning as Allies in the Classroom by Although scholarly examinations of privilege have increased in recent decades, an emphasis on privilege studies pedagogy remains lacking within institutions. This edited collection explores best practices for effective teaching and learning about various forms of systemic group privilege such as that based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, and class. Formatted in three easy-to-follow sections, Deconstructing Privilege charts the history of privilege studies and provides intersectional approaches to the topic. Drawing on a wealth of research and real-life accounts, this book gives educators both the theoretical foundations they need to address issues of privilege in the classroom and practical ways to forge new paths for critical dialogues in educational settings. Combining interdisciplinary contributions from leading experts in the field-- such as Tim Wise and Abby Ferber-- with pedagogical strategies and tips for teaching about privilege, Deconstructing Privilege is an essential book for any educator who wants to address what privilege really means in the classroom.
The Heart of Whiteness by InThe Souls of Black Folks, W.E.B. DuBois wrote that the question whites wanted to ask him was: "How does it feel to be a problem?" InThe Heart of Whiteness, Robert Jensen writes that it is time for white people in America to self-consciously reverse the direction of that question and to fully acknowledge that in the racial arena, they are the problem. While some whites would like to think that we have reached "the end of racism" in the United States, and others would like to celebrate diversity but are oblivious to the political, economic, and social consequences of a nation--and their sense of self--founded on a system of white supremacy, Jensen proposes a different approach. He sets his sights not only on the racism that can't be hidden, but also on the liberal platitudes that sometimes conceal the depths of that racism in "polite society." The Heart of Whiteness offers an honest and rigorous exploration of what Jensen refers to as the depraved nature of whiteness in the United States. Mixing personal experience with data and theory, he faces down the difficult realities of -racism and white privilege. He argues that any system that denies non-whites their full humanity also keeps whites from fully accessing their own. This book is both a cautionary tale for those who believe that they have transcended racism, and also an expression of the hope for genuine transcendence. When white people fully understand and accept the painful reality that they are indeed "the problem," it should lead toward serious attempts to change one's own life and join with others to change society. Robert Jensenis the author ofCitizens of the Empire. He is a professor of media ethics and journalism at The University of Texas at Austin.A small sample of articles. [This is a work in progress]
Encyclopedic Essays
Academic Articles
