Privilege, Power, and Difference

Privilege, Power, and Difference

Allan G. Johnson 

 

Talking points: 

1. 1. “For all our potential, you’d think we could manage to get along with one another. By that I don’t mean love one another in some profoundly idealistic way. We don’t need to love one another- or even like one another- to work together or just share space in the world. I also don’t mean something as minimal as mere tolerance or refraining from overt violence. I mean you’d think we could treat one another with decency and respect and appreciate if not support the best we have in us”  

 

2. 2. The Diversity Wheel is a list of factors that make you who you are, but it only shows what others see not how you really feel. 

 

3. 3. Race and all its categories have no significance outside of a system of privilege and oppression, and it is these systems that created them. The social construction of reality. 

    The author, Allan G. Johnson, argues that difficult conversations about inequality cannot be avoided. We live in a society that has created many divides, and we are not getting along well with each other. He argues that even those who don’t appear to benefit from their privilege still have an advantage.