White privilege: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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Lawrence Blum refers to advantages for white people as "unjust enrichment" privileges, in which white people benefit from the injustices done to persons of color, and he articulates that such privileges are deeply rooted in the U.S. culture and lifestyle:

<blockquote>When Blacks are denied access to desirable homes, for example, this is not just an injustice to Blacks but a positive benefit to Whites who now have a wider range of domicile options than they would have if Blacks had equal access to housing. When urban schools do a poor job of educating their Latino/a and Black students, this benefits Whites in the sense that it unjustly advantages them in the competition for higher levels of education and jobs. Whites in general cannot avoid benefiting from the historical legacy of racial discrimination and oppression. So unjust enrichment is almost never absent from the life situation of Whites.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Blum | first1 = L. | year = 2008 | title = White privilege: A mild critique". In | url = | journal = Theory and Research in Education | volume = 6 | issue = 309| page = 311 }}</ref></blockquote>

===Spared injustice===

In Blum's analysis of the underlying structure of white privilege, "spared injustice" is when a person of color suffers an unjust treatment while a white person does not. His example of this is when "a Black person is stopped by the police without due cause but a White person is not."<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/> He identifies "unjust enrichment" privileges as those for which whites are spared the injustice of a situation, and in turn, are benefiting from the injustice of others. For instance, "if police are too focused on looking for Black lawbreakers, they might be less vigilant toward White ones, conferring an unjust enrichment benefit on Whites who do break the laws but escape detection for this reason."<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/> Lastly, Blum describes "non-injustice-related" privileges as those which are not associated with injustices experienced by people of color, but relate to a majority group's advantages over a minority group. Those who are in the majority, usually white people, gain "unearned privileges not founded on injustice."<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/> As an example, in workplace cultures there tends to be a partly ethnocultural character, so that some ethnic or racial groups' members find them more comfortable than do others.<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/>▼

===Framing racial inequality===

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Lawrence Blum responds to this critique, writing "privileges are generally counterposed to 'rights'. They are not things people should expect to have, but rather things that people count themselves fortunate if they do have them."<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312">{{cite journal | last = Blum | first = L. | year = 2008 | title = White privilege: A Mild Critique | url =http://tre.sagepub.com/content/6/3/309.abstract | journal = Theory and Research in Education | volume = 6 | issue = 309| pages=311–312}}</ref> Blum tends to find somewhat of a gray area between these two ideals, however, when he states that, "many of the things that are called 'privileges' in ''White Privilege Analysis'' do have the character of either rights or things it is appropriate for someone to expect to have...being able to buy a home of one's choice, having one's voice heard in various settings, and the like. These are referred to as 'privileges', of course, because of the comparison to non-Whites who do not have them."<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/>

Blum is not calling the concept of white privilege into question, rather he is distinguishing different types of privileges possessed by white individuals in society with the intent of showing a distinction between rights and privileges. In his view, privileges are not merely whites having more opportunities than people of color; rather, he shows how racial disparity has been assimilated into society through activities that are often unconsciously assumed by those who benefit. He considers these better-defined advantages as important because they provide concrete examples in which white privilege is prevalent and helping demonstrate its existence to those who doubt the presence or severity of white privilege.

▲In Blum's analysis of the underlying structure of white privilege, "spared injustice" is when a person of color suffers an unjust treatment while a white person does not. His example of this is when "a Black person is stopped by the police without due cause but a White person is not."<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/> He identifies "unjust enrichment" privileges as those for which whites are spared the injustice of a situation, and in turn, are benefiting from the injustice of others. For instance, "if police are too focused on looking for Black lawbreakers, they might be less vigilant toward White ones, conferring an unjust enrichment benefit on Whites who do break the laws but escape detection for this reason."<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/> Lastly, Blum describes "non-injustice-related" privileges as those which are not associated with injustices experienced by people of color, but relate to a majority group's advantages over a minority group. Those who are in the majority, usually white people, gain "unearned privileges not founded on injustice."<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/> As an example, in workplace cultures there tends to be a partly ethnocultural character, so that some ethnic or racial groups' members find them more comfortable than do others.<ref name="Blum, L. 2008 p. 311-312"/>

===Unsuccessful white ethnic groups===