ABSTRACT
How can it be a privilege to dehumanize and oppress others? This chapter addresses the nature of privilege, as in “white privilege”. It is pointed out that the word “privilege” in this context actually refers to economic and political privilege, as if there were no other form of privilege. In fact there are many other forms such as the privilege of living in a supportive community, the privilege of having a spiritual life, and so on. In fact, communitarian and spiritual values can point us in an entirely opposite direction from economic and political values, though not necessarily so. Nonetheless, the fact that the word is used as it is in unmodified form exposes the materialistic and dominant–submissive structure and bias of the surrounding value system. Those people whose strength arises from spiritual or communitarian values, rather than from materialistic and competitive values, are thereby defined as deviant or deficient rather than strengthened. This bias lays the groundwork for a great deal of prejudice, potentially becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy under conditions of economic and political oppression.
