White privilege stays invisible because Whites rarely occupy divergent perspectives

Evidence

One aspect of the model that has particular relevance for feelings of White guilt is the positive weight on White input. This positive weight appears because of White privilege or a package of unearned benefits that Whites are said to possess due to the nature of their group membership (McIntosh, 1998). It includes a wide range of assets – some that may seem trivial (e.g., being able to buy bandages that match one’s skin color) and some that are likely perceived to be more important (e.g., being tried in court by a jury of one’s racial peers). Although examples of White privilege permeate nearly every aspect of daily life, some Whites are unaware of their privilege (Fine et al., 1997; McIntosh, 1998). White privilege is easy to deny because Whites are rarely encouraged to take the perspective of or assume the status of other racially classified groups in society (McIntosh, 1998). Most Whites have never had to deal with a society that views them as secondclass citizens, as criminals, or as guilty before proven innocent based solely on their racial background. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 435

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the mechanism by which White privilege is defined through unearned group-based benefits and why it remains unacknowledged.
• ADDENDUM: The ‘unearned benefits by group membership’ framing parallels the status/privilege signaling discussed in the articles on dress and sacrifice.
• XREF: connects to: White privilege manifests as invisible everyday advantages that sustain racial disparity — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 425; White guilt stays low partly because privilege is hard to detect as an absence — Janet K. Swim and Deborah L. Miller, White Guilt: Its Antecedents and…, 134; White privilege operates as an unexamined shared bond only visible from outside (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Whiteness is invisible as a norm to insiders but visible to outsiders. #corroborates (0.95)
• White privilege operates as an unexamined shared bond only visible from outside #corroborates (0.90)
• White guilt stays low partly because privilege is hard to detect as an absence #expands (0.85) — Janet K. Swim and Deborah L. Miller, White Guilt, 134
• Whiteness operates through perceptual paradox, invisible and normative simultaneously #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 742
• White awareness of racial inequality does not translate into support for remedies #qualifies (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3352