Power and Privilege

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The examination of how power and privilege are distributed amongst different groups, and the role they play in shaping intercultural interactions and relationships.

Racism: The systemic oppression of people based on their race or ethnicity.
Sexism: The systemic oppression of people based on their gender.
Heterosexism: The systemic oppression of people based on their sexual orientation.
Ableism: The systematic discrimination against people with disabilities.
Ageism: The systemic oppression of people based on their age.
Classism: The systematic discrimination against people based on their social class.
Religion: The systemic oppression of people based on their religion or belief system.
Nationality: The systemic discrimination against people based on their nationality or country of origin.
Language: The systemic discrimination against people based on their language or dialect.
Indigenous Peoples: The systematic discrimination against indigenous peoples and their cultures.
Intersectionality: The study of how various forms of oppression intersect and overlap.
Stereotypes: The generalizations made about certain groups of people that can perpetuate discrimination.
Prejudice: The preconceived ideas or feelings of a particular group of people that can lead to discrimination.
Social Justice: The fair and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities.
White Privilege: The advantages that white people receive due to their race in a society that prioritizes whiteness.
Microaggressions: The subtle and often unconscious acts of discrimination or prejudice towards marginalized individuals or groups.
Critical Race Theory: The study of how race and racism function in society, including the ways in which they are embedded in laws, policies, and institutions.
Implicit Bias: The attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.
Allyship: The active support and advocacy for marginalized individuals or groups.
Postcolonialism: The study of the legacy of colonialism and its ongoing impact on society, culture, and marginalized individuals and groups.
Economic Power: When one group or individual has access to more resources and wealth than others, it creates economic power. This enables them to control the market, create job opportunities and impact the price of goods.
Political Power: Political power refers to the ability to control decision-making processes and public policies. It allows a person or group to influence and impact governance and national affairs.
Social Power: Social power is the capacity to influence, control or shape public perception, beliefs, and actions through social structures, norms and institutions.
Legal Power: Legal power refers to the capacity to create, interpret and enforce laws. It enables the holder to exercise control over others, especially in the context of social and political governance.
Physical Power: Physical power denotes the ability to use force or violence to subjugate and control others. It is often associated with military power or law enforcement agencies.
Academic Power: Academic power concerns the authority and influence of institutions and experts in shaping public opinions and knowledge. It allows the holder to define intellectual agendas, shape discourses, and influence academic and policy-making communities.
Gender Power: Gender power refers to the social, economic, and political systems that give men dominance and privilege over women. It is often manifested in patriarchy, sexism, and gender-based violence.
Racial Power: Racial power pertains to the ways in which race and ethnicity shape the allocation of resources, opportunities, and privileges in society. It is often manifest in racism, discrimination, and inequity.
Sexual Orientation Power: Sexual orientation power refers to the ways in which heteronormative society privileges individuals and attitudes that conform to heterosexual norms, which can result in social and economic exclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals.
Ability Power: Ability Power refers to the ways in which ableism privileges individuals with able bodies, minds, and skills, often leading to the exclusion and marginalization of people with disabilities.
- "Social privilege is a theory of special advantage or entitlement that benefits individuals belonging to certain groups, often to the detriment of others."
- "Privileged groups can be advantaged based on social class, wealth, education, caste, age, height, skin color, physical fitness, nationality, geographic location, cultural differences, ethnic or racial category, gender, gender identity, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, physical disability, religion, and other differentiating factors."
- "Individuals can be privileged in one area, such as education, and not privileged in another area, such as health."
- "The amount of privilege any individual has may change over time, such as when a person becomes disabled, or when a child becomes a young adult."
- "The concept of privilege is generally considered to be a theoretical concept used in a variety of subjects and often linked to social inequality."
- "It began as an academic concept but has since been invoked more widely, outside of academia."
- "Privilege is also linked to social and cultural forms of power."
- "This subject is based on the interactions of different forms of privilege within certain situations."
- "Furthermore, it must be understood as the inverse of social inequality, in that it focuses on how power structures in society aid societally privileged people, as opposed to how those structures oppress others."
- "Privilege is a theory of special advantage or entitlement that benefits individuals belonging to certain groups, often to the detriment of others."
- "Privileged groups can be advantaged based on... ethnic or racial category."
- "It focuses on how power structures in society aid societally privileged people."
- "Privileged groups can be advantaged based on... gender, gender identity..."
- "Privileged groups can be advantaged based on... geographic location..."
- "Privileged groups can be advantaged based on... religion..."
- "Privileged groups can be advantaged based on... physical fitness..."
- "The amount of privilege any individual has may change over time, such as when a person becomes disabled..."
- "Individuals can be privileged in one area, such as education..."
- "Privileged groups can be advantaged based on... cultural differences..."
- "Privileged groups can be advantaged based on... age..."