Week 4 #2 "white men of privilege

Before I get into the concept “white men of privilege”, chapter 5 explains the hierarchies of power is the process that we have come to take for granted, sometime without being unaware of the way in which we situate ourselves along the continuum. What this explains is that sometime we categorize ourselves in a hierarchy without us even knowing we are doing this. For example, when a person describes himself as a wealthy person who has money he is putting himself in that category of a person that has more money than most. In this situation of the white men of privilege society categorizes white men of power. We ride the assumption of social, economic, and political power in this country has long resided with upper-class and upper-middle-class white European makes of wealth and privilege. (pg.96)

I would have to disagree with this concept because I feel that this all started back when slavery was going on and white men was privilege because they had all the land and slaves. However, time has changed to where other cultures and diversity run things and are privilege to be where they are. Society has stereotyped that white men have wealth and extra privileges, although some places that give different cultures more privilege than others, I feel that now everybody is privilege with some kind of economic wealth. Power is a shared responsibility; we each participate in its use and abuse. (pg 97) Meaning everybody can be on a level as the privilege white person, it all depends on how they tend to use their power. Wyatt explained “the responsibility of each of us as members of groups, and society in general, to play our part in assuring that all voices, including our own, are heard and fully considered”. (pg 97)