Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- A personal note
- Foreword by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
- one Introduction: race as disadvantage
- two White privilege
- three Not white enough
- four Intersectionality: gender, race and class
- five Race, schooling and exclusion
- six Higher education, race and representation
- seven Racism and bullying in the UK
- eight Racial inequalities in the labour market
- nine Wealth, poverty and inequality
- ten Conclusions: race, social justice and equality
- Notes
- References
- Index
two - White privilege
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 April 2023
- Frontmatter
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- A personal note
- Foreword by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
- one Introduction: race as disadvantage
- two White privilege
- three Not white enough
- four Intersectionality: gender, race and class
- five Race, schooling and exclusion
- six Higher education, race and representation
- seven Racism and bullying in the UK
- eight Racial inequalities in the labour market
- nine Wealth, poverty and inequality
- ten Conclusions: race, social justice and equality
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
In this chapter I discuss how whiteness and white identities operate as a form of privilege in society. Whiteness and white privilege are explored in two different political and social contexts, that of the UK and that of the US. Despite great historical, cultural and social differences between these two countries, many black and minority ethnic groups remain marginalised at different levels of society in which white identities predominate.
A recent report published by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found shocking evidence of the prevalence of racial inequalities in the UK; if you are from a black minority background you are three times more likely to be excluded from school, more likely to be unemployed, more likely to live in poverty, more likely to be physically restrained in police custody and more likely to be prosecuted and sentenced. The EHRC argues:
These inequalities are of significant concern. Not only do they mean that individuals are facing barriers in accessing jobs and services that impact on their ability to fulfil their potential, they also indicate that some parts of our community are falling behind and can expect poorer life changes than their neighbours. Multiple disadvantages result in social and economic exclusion for some groups and create tensions between communities, putting the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in conflict.
The report also found a significant increase in the numbers of racist crimes in the last five years.
Similarly in the US, if you are from a black African American background you are more likely to live in poverty (27% of black African Americans compared with 11% of all Americans), less likely to have a bachelor’s degree and more likely to be stopped, searched and arrested than if you are from a white background. Moreover, black African Americans are not only less likely to own their own homes now, they are also less likely to be the homeowners of the future; trends in home ownership suggest a slow but persistent year-on-year fall between 2005 and 2012 from 46% to 42.5%. Black African Americans have lower life expectancy than white Americans, they are less likely to have access to adequate health care and are more likely to be susceptible to diseases that they will die from.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- White PrivilegeThe Myth of a Post-Racial Society, pp. 9 - 28Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018