WGST 1808 Lecture 7: LECTURE 7 - Intersectionality, Power, & Privilege

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Women's and Gender Studies
• Course: WGST 1808
• Professor: Aalya Ahmad

Document Summary

Building empathy & working for social change. Systems of inclusion & exclusion where some people/groups have advantages over others. Based on (binary) either/or categories of difference them/us; valued/under-, de- or (not) valued: dominant/subordinate, white/black, superior/inferior, male/female, masculine/feminine. Privilege ensures systemic power and control for dominant groups. A system in which one advances or earns advantages based on merit and ability. A myth because merit is often attributed on the basis of unearned privilege: privilege is not based on merit but the prevailing race, gender, and class structures in society, systematically privileging some while excluding & disadvantaging others. The power flower where you are vs. where the majority of society is. It is not about shaming & blaming people. It is about : recognizing institutional and systemic privilege (inclusion) and oppression (exclusion, examining our privilege, making constructive & positive social change. Normalization of hierarchies of privilege & systems of inclusion/exclusion.