What Salience Does White Privilege Have in Non-Diverse Societies?

Abstract

This article argues that white privilege is salient in non-diverse societies, and can be an effective analytical tool to understand the relationship and life course variances – inclusive of the institutional and socio-economic inequalities – amongst ethno-racial groups. Using the experiences of Norway, Poland and the Polish diaspora in Western Europe it suggests that white privilege is determined by at least three elements. First, an ethno-racial hierarchy whereby those who are constructed as ‘white’ receive increased privileges (relative to ‘non-whites’) in the geographical, cultural and political reality they occupy. Second, there is a disenfranchised established minority population who is phenotypically different than the dominant population, and who, through the articulation of their dissatisfaction, begins and/or sustains a public debate on their weaker position in society. Third, there is a link between the dominant ‘white’ population and past exploitation of ‘non-whites’.