My Identity Privilege: Benefits & Shaping My Life - Essay Sample

Introduction

In different settings, some individuals may be oppressed as others benefit from privileges. In essence, a single group may take advantage of another one hence showing their dominance. Oppression in social settings may be based on race, ethnicity, class, gender, as well as sexual orientation. The privileges and oppression may shape the life experiences of an individual (Welton et al. 2015).

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An Aspect of My Identity for Which I Experience Social Privilege and How the Privilege Shapes My Life Experiences and Opportunities

I am a white man of Hispanic descent who immigrated to the United States five years ago to study Psychology. In my Psychology classes, I have been oppressed as negative viewpoints are expressed about the Hispanics. The Whites view Hispanics as substance abusers, which misrepresents the whole community and makes me feel oppressed whenever my classmates talk negatively about my cultural group. In our Psychology Department, Hispanic students are always invisible and are not allowed to express their views freely like other cultural groups such as the White Americans. The difficulties I have gone through as a Hispanic student in the U.S have motivated me to work hard in school and perform better than the students who are not of color. As one of the Hispanics in the Psychology class, I always feel isolated as I am unable to receive the same mentorship as other students. This makes me learn the hard way hence driving me to explore a range of studies on ethnicity and racial prejudices. The setting in which the form of oppression is most powerful is in the learning institutions since students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds meet and interact in such environments. In essence, they do not speak a common language as Whites are more privileged than the people of color.

An Example in Which I Have Witnessed or Become Aware Of Unfair Treatment of Individuals Who Do Not Share the Privilege. Ways to Interrupt the Unfair Treatment and Barriers or Personal Costs

In my Psychology class, I have been indirectly discriminated since I am a Muslim. The Psychology department misrepresents various issues related to Islamic religious minorities. An example is where I am always excluded from group debates in a class where people discuss religious and racial matters. Whenever I go to close, my classmates often block me from getting a seat as they claim that the seats have been preserved for other students.

Another example is evident in the case of LGBTQ and gender non-conforming identities, which the psychology department does not recognize. The studies about sex only revolve around females and males. As such, transgender characters and LGBTQs cannot express their views freely due to sexual orientation (Ramsay, 2014). One of the ways I would leverage privilege to deal with the unfair treatment is to form a team with the Hispanics and other people of color who would inform conversations on race and ethnicity. Through this, other students will be immersed in learning experiences that make them aware of the negative consequences of racism both within the learning institutions and different settings.

Based on the team that will work against racist acts, some students may be held accountable when they engage in racist behaviors or make statements that trigger racism. However, this would be a risky task due to personal responsibilities at stake. These include the scare of being judged by other people, shyness makes it difficult to engage other people, and the technique may also not have a significant impact on dealing with unfair treatment. Additionally, since I had only gone to the U.S for my studies, it would be difficult to convince the Whites to turn against racism, which has been evident in their society for long periods.

References

Ramsay, N. J. (2014). Intersectionality: A model for addressing the complexity of oppression and privilege. Pastoral Psychology, 63(4), 453-469. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-013-0570-4

Welton, A. D., Harris, T. O., La Londe, P. G., & Moyer, R. T. (2015). Social justice education in a diverse classroom: Examining high school discussions about race, power, and privilege. Equity & Excellence in Education, 48(4), 549-570. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10665684.2015.1083839