It actually does mean that mate.
That's why I have a problem with the term, because it's self defeating when you have so many people of all races suffer from the socio-economic deprivation which actually fuels racial inequality. Blacks in our society are disproportionately part of the prison system not because of "White Privilege" but because they're more likely to be socio-economically deprived than a white person but not ALL white people.
Personally, I'd like the term replaced by something inclusive. It serves no purpose and only does harm. Any label that stereotypes an entire race or skin colour is pointless.
No. I’m saying saying the term white privilege isn’t meant to mean that all white people *live* in privilege. As in the traditional sense. Economic etc. That’s not what the term was coined for. That’s not the meaning of the term ‘white privilege’. It refers to the societal benefits that exist at a macro level (not an individual level).
People became more broadly aware of it because of Peggy McIntosh but it was coined in the 30s to refer to the fact that, at the time, poor white people saw themselves as superior to poor black people. That it was some kind of ‘psychological wage’ ie a non-monetary benefit. Peggy McIntosh used an analogy of a knapsack. A collection of biases that were unconscious ‘tools’ that people of colour do not have. At no point did it refer to the idea that all white people live in economic privilege. Or that white people have all other privileges. Or that white people do not encounter prejudices. It’s just that being white provides some benefits that being a person of colour doesn’t.
I think a lot of the time people are looking at this too much at an individual level. It doesn’t mean that being white is an automatic free pass. It’s never meant that. It doesn’t mean that white people have all the privilege. It means that white people simply don’t have to worry about their race in a way that people of colour do. That it just isn’t a factor for them in the way it is for people of colour. Being white is a benefit in a predominantly white society.
A person of colour can be rich and have economic privilege. And a white person can be poor and not have economic privilege.
The fact is that there are certain advantages afforded to being white in a predominantly white society. There’s a reason why there is an representation of white men across the upper echelons of society across all disciplines. It’s not because white men are superior. Not is it because they are inherently evil. They are just afforded certain advantages (at a macro level, not at an individual level - that is a really important distinction) that others aren’t.
Just a biological example. Men don’t have to carry a child. They don’t have to go through child birth and recover. They don’t have the hormonal shifts that come with pregnancy and childbirth. Which provides them with an advantage from a career perspective. They can have a child and not take any time off whatsoever if they don’t need to. A women would struggle to do that, purely from a biological perspective. Then she may need to make a choice not to breastfeed.
This is an advantage (or privilege) of being male. It doesn’t mean men are evil. It just means that they have an advantage.
That’s all white privilege is. The fact is, being white is an advantage (at a macro level).
