Awareness Of Privilege Research Articles

Recognizing Privilege and Bias: An Interactive Exercise to Expand Health Care Providers' Personal Awareness.

Despite increasing awareness of the social determinants of health, health care disparities among sociocultural groups persist. Health care providers' unconscious bias resulting from unrecognized social privilege is one contributor to these disparities. In 2009, Henry Ford Health System initiated the Healthcare Equity Campaign both to raise employees' awareness of inequalities related to the social determinants of health and to increase their motivation to reduce them. After conducting awareness-raising activities to increase employees' understanding of the social determinants of health, a curriculum team developed the interactive Privilege and Responsibility Curricular Exercise (PRCE) and incorporated it into a series of trainings. The team designed the exercise to enhance participants' awareness of privilege in their lives and work, to improve their understanding of the impact of privilege on their own and others' lived experiences as a step beyond cultural competence toward cultural humility, and to encourage them to leverage their advantages to reduce health care inequities. About 300 participants of diverse professional and personal backgrounds from across the health system completed the training between the spring of 2009 and the spring of 2012, and many provided qualitative feedback about the exercise. Evaluations showed the exercise's potential as a powerful learning experience that might enhance a variety of equity- or diversity-related trainings, and also showed that participants considered the PRCE a highlight of the training. The PRCE is worthy of additional study and could prove valuable to other organizations.

Building Bridges: Experiential and Integrative Learning in a Canadian Women’s Prison

ABSTRACTThis article reports on a study of student experiences of a Walls to Bridges (W2B) class taught by Faculty of Social Work instructors in a Canadian women’s prison. The Walls to Bridges (W2B) program is based on the U. S. Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program and brings students from the university together with students from the prison to study for a semester long course in correctional settings. The article reports on how the program pedagogy of experiential learning and Talking Circle processes impacted student’s awareness of privilege, marginalization and stereotypes, commitment to social change and action.

C’est La Vie! The Game of Social Life

In this article, we present the results of two studies that evaluated an experiential intersectionality awareness activity, C’est La Vie: The Game of Social Life. For Study 1 ( N = 55), we content analyzed students’ short answer responses about inequality written before and after playing C’est La Vie. Study 2 compared a C’est La Vie treatment group ( N = 179) to a lecture-as-usual control condition ( N = 64). Across both studies, playing C’est La Vie was associated with an expanded awareness of privilege and structural inequality. Follow-up analyses with a subset of Study 2 control participants ( N = 27) established that participants who were originally in the control group experienced gains in awareness of privilege and structural inequality (relative to pretest and the lecture-as-usual) only after being exposed to C’est La Vie. The results are interpreted within the context of an intersectionality framework.

Training Counseling Students to Develop Group Leadership Self-Efficacy and Multicultural Competence Through Service Learning

This article describes a service-learning project designed to increase student group leadership self-efficacy and multicultural competence. Students facilitated debriefing groups for campus and community members after they participated in a theater production aimed at increasing awareness of oppression, power, and privilege. Students completed pre- and posttest measures to evaluate this approach. After completing the project, there was a significant increase in students’ group leadership self-efficacy and a trend toward significance in multicultural knowledge. However, there was no change in multicultural awareness. Implications for incorporating service learning as a teaching strategy in counselor education preparing students to conduct group work are discussed.

Pre-Service Foreign Language Teachers’ Awareness of White Privilege

Over the last several years teacher preparation programs have strived to adequately prepare pre-service teachers for more diverse populations in the classroom. However, little research has been done to examine the attitudes of pre-service teachers related to white privilege. This is the qualitative report from a mixed-methods study which examined those attitudes, the quantitative report has previously been published. The quantitative portion employed a pre/post-test survey surrounding interactive activities and found a significant change in participants‟ attitudes regarding social issues of privilege, such as racism and sexism (McGowan & Kern, 2014). This paper reports the ways pre-service foreign language teachers examined their understandings of white privilege. Students in a language methods course (N=19) participated in specific activities to explore how they relate privilege and oppression to their own lives and futures as teachers. A grounded theory approach was utilized to analyze the students‟ responses to questions regarding the activities. From the analysis, six major themes were discovered. Three themes indicated the affordances pre-service teachers gained from the activities regarding privilege. Whereas, the other three themes indicated possible challenges in regards to privileged thinking. Suggestions for further research include determining the long-term effects of the intervention and extending the instructional intervention length.

Advocacy for Whom? Influence for What? Abuse of Discursive Power in International NGO Online Campaigns

In this article, I propose a methodological framework to analyze international NGO advocacy campaigns to examine the use or abuse of their discursive power, which in itself could then lead to reflect on the use or abuse of power in their practice. The methodology is based on a reconceptualization of critical discourse analysis, where I propose an epistemological approach according to Freirean understanding of power, cultural, and dialogic structures on one hand, and a methodological approach, which introduces Arnold and Amy Mindell’s concept of deep democracy as awareness of diversity, rank, and privilege in discursive interactions. I examine the case of Amnesty International, and results yield an urgent need to question the identity that lies behind the existence of transnational NGOs in themselves.

Differences in White Privilege Attitudes and Religious Beliefs Across Racial Affect Types

This study extends research on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites (PCRW) cluster types. We examined differences in White privilege attitudes across different PCRW cluster types in a sample of White Christian students ( N = 437). We also examined differences in religious beliefs, specifically religious liberalism and sanctification of social justice, across students in different PCRW cluster types. This provides an initial intersection of PCRW cluster types, White privilege attitudes, and religious beliefs. We found that, compared with students in all other types, students in the Antiracist cluster type reported (a) higher levels of White privilege attitudes conducive to working for racial justice (i.e., willingness to confront White privilege, White privilege awareness, and White privilege remorse) and (b) higher levels of religious liberalism. We also found differences for sanctification of social justice. We discuss additional findings and implications for counseling psychologists and diversity educators working with White Christian students.

White Practitioners in Therapeutic Ally-Ance: An Intersectional Privilege Awareness Training Model

Among White1 licensed psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and counselors, research has documented a severe lack of awareness of unconscious stereotyping, systemic racism, white privilege, and white racial identity. This article introduces a privilege awareness pedagogical model as a framework for White students in clinical training programs learning about white privilege, enhancing multicultural competencies, and developing as effective allies in the therapeutic relationship, or therapeutic ally-ance. The model emphasizes intersectional privilege studies to address white privilege along with a wide variety of oppressions often neglected in the curriculum, involves personal reflection on biases and assumptions to enhance multicultural competencies, and promotes student learning through social action to dismantle privilege. The pedagogical benefits of the following activities and assignments are described: 1) group analysis of therapeutic scenarios, 2) photo-voice identity assignment, 3) white privilege reflection paper, and 4) identities education project.

"I don't see color": personal and critical perspectives on white privilege

Contents Preface, Eula Biss Introduction, Bettina Bergo and Tracey Nicholls Part I. What is Privilege? Chapter 1: Deprivileging Philosophy, Peggy McIntosh Chapter 2: Privilege and the Problem with Affirmative Action, Lewis R. Gordon Chapter 3: Revisioning White Privilege, Marilyn Nissim-Sabat Part II. The Images and Rhetoric of Privilege Chapter 4: The Very Image of Privilege: Film Creation of Transcendentals in Vienna and Hollywood, Bettina Bergo Chapter 5: Painting and Negotiating Colors, Lilia Moritz Schwarcz Chapter 6: I Was an Honorary Man: Reflections on Space, Place, and Origin, Mark McMorris Part III. Troubling Privilege Chapter 7: Whiteness as Insidious: On the Embedded and Opaque Racist Self, George Yancy Chapter 8: Privilege: The Luxury of Undivided Attention, Heidi A. Zetzer Chapter 9: The Costs of Privilege and Dividends of Privilege Awareness: The Social Psychology of Confronting Inequality, Tracie L. Stewart and Nyla R. Branscombe Chapter 10: Unpacking the Imperialist Knapsack: Privilege and Imperialism in Obama's America, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Victor Ray, and Louise Seamster Part IV. Other Perspectives on and Western Privilege Chapter 11: Whiteness and Africana Political Economy, Paget Henry Chapter 12: The Great North: Failing Muslim-Canadians - Failing Us All, Tracey Nicholls Chapter 13: Rethinking Ethical Feminism through uBuntu, Drucilla Cornell Chapter 14: The Afrocentrist Critique of Eurocentrism: The Decolonization of Knowledge, Ernest-Marie Mbonda Contributor Biographies

Constructing racial literacy through critical language awareness: A case study of a beginning literacy teacher

This case study focuses on the relationship between critical language awareness and racial literacy. We explore how one White preservice teacher explored race and racism and engaged her young student, who identified as Black, in a discussion of “whiteness” and “blackness” in a literacy practicum. We focus on three literacy events (a journal entry about white privilege, a literacy lesson with her student, and a debriefing session with her colleagues) to answer our research questions: How does a literacy teacher bring a developing awareness of racism and white privilege to her literacy practices while learning to teach in a practicum? What tools and contexts support her work to analyze, critique and reconstruct her understandings? How might we understand the affordances and constraints of literacy practices? The findings of the study suggest the ways in which CLA works as a tool in breaking a silence about race, providing a diverse set of tools to do so. The case study we present has implications for researchers studying racial literacy through critical approaches to discourse as well as teacher educators and teachers developing practices of racial literacy.

Understanding Associations between Religious Beliefs and White Privilege Attitudes

Scholars have grappled with how religion in the United States shapes attitudes toward racial inequality, often by focusing on racial inequality as out-group disadvantage. The current study extends this research by moving beyond racial inequality as out-group disadvantage to examine how religious conservatism and sanctification of social justice (i.e., attributing spiritual or religious significance to working for social justice) are associated with attitudes toward racial in-group advantage: white privilege. Using canonical correlation analysis with 475 white Catholic and Protestant students, results showed religious beliefs and white privilege attitudes were connected in two ways: (1) sanctification of social justice was positively associated with a dimension defined by greater willingness to confront white privilege and greater white privilege remorse and awareness and (2) religious conservatism was negatively associated with a dimension defined by greater awareness of white privilege. This shows how religion may facilitate or inhibit awareness and action related to white privilege.

Racial awareness: effects on justice perceptions and trust in management in the USA

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the socio-demographic diversity characteristic, racioethnicity, vs the deeper-level socially constructed attribute, awareness of racial privilege (which the authors termed “racial awareness”), on perceptions of organizational justice and on trust in management (TM) (trust) in a US context. The authors predicted that racial awareness would have a greater effect on perceptions of interactional and procedural justice and on trust than would participant racioethnicity. Second, the authors predicted that justice perceptions would influence trust. Finally the authors predicted that justice perceptions would mediate between racial awareness and TM. Design/methodology/approach – The authors surveyed Black, Hispanic and Native American professionals in one industry in the USA. The authors employed regression and bootstrap analyses to test the hypotheses. Findings – Racial awareness influenced justice ratings and TM. Justice perceptions influenced employee trust. Interactional and procedural justice had indirect effects on the relationship between racial awareness and trust, supporting the hypotheses. Research limitations/implications – Respondents were primarily African-American, so additional research to assess attitudes of other groups is needed. Respondents belonged to a minority networking group which provided the sample. It is possible that their membership sensitized the respondents to racial issues. Practical implications – The finding suggest that managers can positively influence US minority employees’ trust regardless of the employees’ racial awareness by treating them with dignity and respect and by ensuring fairness in the application of organizational policies and procedures. Originality/value – This study examined the impact of US minority employee racial awareness on justice perceptions and TM, important variables in the employer-employee relationship. Findings indicated that racial awareness was a better predictor of employee attitudes than was racioethnicity.

Development and psychometric properties of the attitudes towards heterosexuals scale (ATHS): a useful tool alone or in combination

While a number of scales exist for studying explicit attitudes towards sexual minorities (i.e., lesbians, gay men and bisexuals), there is currently no heterosexual parallel. The utility of such a scale, however, would be a boon for researchers interested in comparative, longitudinal and/or experimental studies of attitudes based on sexual orientation. With this goal in mind, we created the attitudes towards heterosexuals scale (ATHS) and tested its psychometric properties across three studies. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis revealed a uni-dimensional factor structure for the 15-item ATHS. Multiple groups’ analysis suggested a similar factor structure for both heterosexuals and sexual minorities. We also investigated relationships between ATHS and other attitudinal, affective and demographic measures for evidence of construct validity. More positive attitudes on ATHS were related to more negative attitudes towards sexual minorities, less awareness of heterosexual privilege and greater positive affect towards heterosexuals. Lastly, we examined ATHS for temporal stability, finding high test-retest reliability. We offer ATHS as a measure to be used on its own, or in combination with other attitudinal measures, in research in a number of different fields across a number of different methodologies.

Reflecting on Heterosexual and Male Privilege: Interventions to Raise Awareness

Gender‐focused college courses seek to increase understanding of the systematic advantages associated with dominant group membership. These courses attempt to reduce prejudice and raise awareness of male and heterosexual privilege. Inclusion of privilege content within gender‐focused courses has increased, but research to test interventions to increase privilege awareness and reduce prejudice remains sparse. The current studies provide experimental information about awareness of heterosexual privilege (Study 1) and male privilege (Study 2) and specific interventions for use in education, professional development, and community settings. Study 1 found the video intervention was effective in increasing heterosexual privilege awareness and internal motivation to respond without prejudice. Study 2 found that male privilege awareness was significantly increased and modern sexism was reduced by the video intervention. Findings provide information for applied practices such as pedagogical strategies when designing diversity courses and training workshops.

The Role of Student Affairs in Promoting Social Justice in South Africa

Student affairs, as an integral part of universities, has taken on a key position in contributing to social justice as one of the central imperatives of higher education in South Africa. This article sketches the development of this role and outlines some important tasks for contemporary student affairs. Three conceptual models within the social justice framework are utilized: participatory parity, universal design for learning, and student engagement. These models are uniquely useful to strengthen student affairs’s contribution to the development of social justice in South Africa. It is suggested that student affairs leaders articulate a more explicit position on social justice in order to contribute more cogently to students’ awareness of positionality, privilege, and exclusion.

Do You See What I See? Fostering Aspiring Leaders’ Racial Awareness

Programs preparing culturally responsive school leaders must address how race, power, and individual, institutional, and cultural racism impact beliefs, structures, and outcomes for students of color. To develop greater awareness of race, instructors in a principal preparation program assigned students in a primarily White cohort to compose racial autobiographies. Analysis of these racial autobiographies revealed early racial identity development impacted by racial isolation and family influence. The autobiographies included evidence of growing racial awareness and movement away from racial unconsciousness and colorblindness toward acknowledgment of privilege and commitment to future action. Racial autobiography serves as a useful tool to have students examine their own racial identity—a necessary first step toward building an awareness of race, privilege, and institutional and societal systems of racism and other forms of oppression. Further study will determine what changes in leadership practice, if any, might be attributed to this increased awareness.

Playing hide-and-seek: searching for the use of self in reflective social work practice

With the increasing awareness of power and privilege in current theorizing, social workers are increasingly called upon to engage in critical self-reflection and develop strategies of reflective use of self in their practice. However, despite this call the use of self is disappearing from social work curricula. This paper presents an overview of findings from a small qualitative study exploring the use of self among reflective social work practitioners. In-depth collegial conversations were used to generate data. Narrative and discourse analysis were used to interpret the data. Findings are nuanced and textured reflecting the diversity of participants’ worldviews.

The Role of Attitudes Toward White Privilege and Religious Beliefs in Predicting Social Justice Interest and Commitment

The current study examines links among attitudes toward White privilege, religious beliefs, and social justice interest and commitment for White Christian students. Two distinct patterns of results emerged from a path analysis of 500 White Christian students. First, a willingness to confront White privilege was positively associated with the sanctification of social justice (i.e., attributing spiritual significance to working for social justice) and both were positively associated with social justice interest and commitment. Second, awareness of White privilege was negatively associated with religious conservatism, and religious conservatism was negatively associated with social justice interest. These patterns show that White privilege attitudes directly (i.e., willingness to confront White privilege) and indirectly (i.e., awareness of White privilege through religious conservatism) predicted social justice interest and commitment. Moreover, religious beliefs demonstrated opposite patterns of association with social justice interest and commitment such that the sanctification of social justice positively predicted social justice interest and commitment whereas religious conservatism negatively predicted social justice interest. Overall, findings demonstrate direct and indirect links between White privilege attitudes, religious beliefs, and social justice interest and commitment. Limitations and implications for future community psychology research and collaboration also are discussed.

Developing a comprehensive scale to assess college multicultural programming.

A barrier to assessing effectiveness of multicultural programming is lack of a relatively brief instrument to measure the wide range of intended outcomes. A frequent goal of programming is to increase cultural empathy, but this is rarely the only intended outcome. We conducted focus groups of campus administrators, student affairs staff, and undergraduate instructors who identified a full range of racial/ethnic multicultural competencies that undergraduates should possess. An 84-item pool generated from these focus groups was combined with the 31-item Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (SEE; Wang et al., 2003). These 115 items, together with instruments used to gauge concurrent validity, were administered to White undergraduate students in introductory psychology courses at the midpoint (n = 602) and end (n = 676) of fall semester. Exploratory factor analysis suggested 6 subscales for the Everyday Multicultural Competencies/Revised SEE (EMC/RSEE): (a) Cultural Openness and Desire to Learn; (b) Resentment and Cultural Dominance; (c) Anxiety and Lack of Multicultural Self-Efficacy; (d) Empathic Perspective-Taking; (e) Awareness of Contemporary Racism and Privilege; and (f) Empathic Feeling and Acting as an Ally. Item response theory principles guided final selection of subscale items. Analyses suggested good factor stability, reliability, and discriminant validity of the 48-item EMC/RSEE in these undergraduate samples. EMC/RSEE subscales were not strongly correlated with a measure of impression management and were significantly associated with measures of Openness to Diversity Challenge, and Universal-Diverse Orientation.

The Privilege Project: A Narrative Approach for Teaching Social Justice and Multicultural Awareness

The Privilege Project is a narrative-based teaching approach that targets concepts and practices related to privilege. Students enrolled in a graduate-level counseling course engaged in written reflections and group discussions in response to a nine-part Privilege Project assignment. Examination of the Project suggests that students increased their knowledge and awareness of privilege, better understood the creation and perpetuation of privilege, and enhanced their recognition of the effects of power and dominance on groups experiencing less privilege.