ABSTRACT
Racism and white privilege work in tandem and conspire to preserve the white status quo whilst oppressing people of colour. Institutional racism includes ‘the collective effect of acts, policies, unwitting prejudice and the invocation of stereotypes that sustain an atmosphere which is hostile to the full participation and success of racial minorities’ (Foster, 2005: 494). Oppression differs from prejudice because prejudice is an individual act, whilst oppression ‘involves institutional control, ideological domination, and the imposition of the dominant group’s culture on the target group’ (Sensoy and DiAngelo, 2009: 345). White privilege, the unseen and often unacknowledged partner to oppression, is ‘an invisible package of unearned assets that [whites] can count on cashing in each day, but about which [they are] meant to remain oblivious’ (McIntosh, 1992: 76-77).
