Johnson CH. 7: How Systems of Privilege Work EXTRA CREDIT BLOG

In chapter 7, Johnson points out that people’s participation in social systems allow privilege and oppression to exist. Who people are and how they’re shaped comes from different paths of least resistance. The systems we make and their consequences happen through these paths. Three key characteristics are held by systems which are organized around privilege. “They are dominated by privileged groups, identified with privileged groups, and centered on privileged groups. All three characteristics support the idea that members of privileged groups are superior to those below them and, therefore, deserve their privilege” (90). Patriarchy is a concept acknowledged in this chapter. This is male-dominated, male-identified, and male-centered. Everything pretty much revolves around the male gender in a patriarchal society. Then there’s race privilege. This exists through systems which are white-dominated, white-identified, and white-centered.

Dominance is an important theme in this chapter. “When we say that a system is dominated by a privileged group, it means that positions of power tend to be occupied by members of that group” (91). This is typically the way our society works. Power is something else that becomes identified with people in ways in which it seems normal. Identifying a system as male-dominated doesn’t necessarily mean that all men are powerful. Johnson makes a very good point when he says, men are dominate, but if you ask a man if he is, he will usually answer saying no because he is not of class, race, or disability status. There is a difference between men and woman when it comes to dominance. Male dominance is the norm. If a man in an office setting is upper level management, it is considered normal. He will tell many people what to do, including women. On the other hand, if a woman is upper level management, she is considered to be more of a “bitch” because her actions are somewhat bossy for a woman. Another aspect of this chapter is being identified with privilege. A commonly used “saying” used by millions is, “It’s a man’s world.” Other possibilities are, “It’s a white world,” or “It’s a straight world.” These are all groups with privilege. One would not be likely to use an oppressed group in the same phrase. “Patterns of dominance and the paths of least resistance that sustain them show up in every system of privilege. The result of such patterns of dominance is that if you’re female, of color or in some other way on the outside of privilege, when you look upward in all kinds of power structures you don’t see people like you (94-95). If our participation within society’s social systems never happened, privilege and oppression wouldn’t exist.