This blog is intended for students taking Introduction to Sociology with Professor McCoy at UC Davis during spring quarter 2016. It is a private blog administered by Joshua Hayes (TA) for students in sections 1 and 2. This is the location for the blog responses and student comments described in the course syllabus.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Week 10 Blog Posts
Put your Week 10 blog posts under here! Best, Joshua
In “What Can We Do,” Allan Johnson discusses the ways that society can move towards progress and take small steps towards recognizing and eliminating oppression done through privilege that one is born in. He points out things like recognizing problematic language that as part of the measures to take in reclaiming language and undergoing societal progress. He also discusses the irony of societal privilege because often times those born into certain privileges are oblivious to their privilege. As he best explains it, privilege is not created by individuals but social systems. In order to truly tackle the presence of privilege is to recognize that it still exists and change our responses towards it. Johnson also advises that as our awareness increases, we act more as individuals and take more risks in taking offered opportunities in fighting oppression. On a similar note, discomfort is apart of taking such measures to progress past from privilege and oppression in society. Johnson encourages people to speak out even if it means making others (including oneself) uncomfortable, and become a role model for others to follow suit in promoting change the same way that past leaders have done (like Martin Luther King Jr.). In addition, he encourages paying attention to the ways that different conflict interest groups interact with another, as well as, working with other people. Essentially, Johnson emphasizes in the article the importance of working through internal issues on individual levels before working together as fellow human beings to steadily solve deeply rooted issues like privilege and oppression in society. I believe that Johnson’s most important argument throughout the entire article was the ways that people need to help one another in promoting the change. While, changes can happen within individuals, in order to make a noticeable difference against these social systems there would need to be larger groups promoting it for others (as he said in his article) to follow suit. I completely agree that guilt and blame do not necessarily need to be involved in activism. A difference is made not just with one activist, but with armies of voices “making noise” and having their ideas heard. The more people there are to create change, the more likely the chances are that it will take place because there are more people to spread their views.
In What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution, author Allen Johnson defines the issues of “exclusion, rejection, privilege, harassment, discrimination, and violence” and makes the argument that these problems still exist to this day, and that members of society need to take on a more active role in combating them. Johnson argues that a major roadblock in battling privilege is that people generally like to turn a blind eye on them and pretend that they don’t exist. Few people who decide to speak up regarding the issue are ridiculed and marked as being “divisive,” although they are only highlighting divisive practices that already exist. Johnson then argues that the very first thing we need to do collectively as a society, is to realize and acknowledge out loud that the problem is there. Doing so will allow us to take the problem apart, and start finding solutions. Johnson encourages his readers to speak up and be disruptive to the usual flow of business in an oppressive system. Doing so will make the person, and the people surrounding that person feel uncomfortable at first. However, Johnson states that this is necessary for the withdrawing of support of existing systems of oppression.
I strongly agree with Johnson’s argument that the issue of privilege needs to be addressed on a both systematic and individualistic levels. However, I think that Johnson will be able to make a stronger argument with more discussion of why these issues of privilege, harassment, discrimination, and violence exist to begin with. In his article, he discusses how people of all groups would more or less benefit from resolving these issues. In addition to this, Johnson should discuss what motivates people of different groups to believe in a certain system of privilege and discrimination. Deciding why such problems of division and oppression have come about, and why people are reluctant to change would help readers gain a bigger perspective on the issues.
Jamie I agree with your comment on how Johnson should address the underlying reason to the issues we have today. However, I also think that this paper might be written assuming the readers have an understanding of the oppression and privileges that are over powering our society, and this paper is used as a tool to concretely let the readers how they can be part of this social change. How we can transform our thoughts, motives, and actions to be coherent with the equality that we strive to see in our world. Although, I also think it is interesting to see what motivates people to believe in systems of privilege and discrimination, maybe in forms of specific examples of how certain individuals were exposed to these issues and why they are reluctant to change. It seems to me that some people are afraid of change, because they are so comfortable with their reality and the idea of change and transformation could be overwhelming to some, while to other it is exciting and exhilarating.
In “What Can We Do,” Allan Johnson discusses the ways that society can move towards progress and take small steps towards recognizing and eliminating oppression done through privilege that one is born in. He points out things like recognizing problematic language that as part of the measures to take in reclaiming language and undergoing societal progress. He also discusses the irony of societal privilege because often times those born into certain privileges are oblivious to their privilege. As he best explains it, privilege is not created by individuals but social systems. In order to truly tackle the presence of privilege is to recognize that it still exists and change our responses towards it. Johnson also advises that as our awareness increases, we act more as individuals and take more risks in taking offered opportunities in fighting oppression. On a similar note, discomfort is apart of taking such measures to progress past from privilege and oppression in society. Johnson encourages people to speak out even if it means making others (including oneself) uncomfortable, and become a role model for others to follow suit in promoting change the same way that past leaders have done (like Martin Luther King Jr.). In addition, he encourages paying attention to the ways that different conflict interest groups interact with another, as well as, working with other people. Essentially, Johnson emphasizes in the article the importance of working through internal issues on individual levels before working together as fellow human beings to steadily solve deeply rooted issues like privilege and oppression in society. I believe that Johnson’s most important argument throughout the entire article was the ways that people need to help one another in promoting the change. While, changes can happen within individuals, in order to make a noticeable difference against these social systems there would need to be larger groups promoting it for others (as he said in his article) to follow suit. I think that it would help improve the article if Johnson also added tangible baby steps that people can do individually and collectively. For instance, Johnson could add in his claims about reclaiming language to learn to have a more gender neutral way of speaking. I would also enjoy more examples written within each his step to add even more insight. I completely agree that guilt and blame do not necessarily need to be involved in activism. A difference is made not just with one activist, but with armies of voices “making noise” and having their ideas heard. The more people there are to create change, the more likely the chances are that it will take place because there are more people to spread their views.
A agree with Abby that Johnson could have laid out more specific guidelines for how to be an activist, but I don't think that was the point of the article. I think Johnson was making a call for self-reflection and for more mindful activism; he was not making a guide for new activists. His audience is current activists, not moderates, and while more clear cut examples of how to get involved would have been useful, I think this was more about creating more credible activists by having the reader consider their actions more thoroughly. Social discourse rests on unstable ground, and either side will quickly tear apart arguments that are overzealous or uninformed in the slightest. By establishing a more stable base for activism, the credibility of social causes increases. Making noise and inciting anger from moderates can very quickly turn people against a cause, especially if the cause activists are fighting for is a minority one. MLKJ promoted civil disobedience, to make noise and fight against the status quo, and it was messy and hurt the moderates in much the same way movements today do, but all of that chaos and noise was headed by the voice of reason. It is one thing to turn people's heads, but to maintain their respect after attacking and disrupting their way of life is the heart of the issue. To get people's attention, we may have to be coarse and difficult, but once that attention is gained, have something of value to say.
In “What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution?” by Alan Johnson, he discusses the steps we must take as a society in order to resolve the issue of privilege and oppression in our society. Johnson asserts the the issue of privilege is not a feature of individuals but rather a feature of social systems. People are given privilege depending on the system they are in and the social categories they are put into as a result. Often times, those who have privilege do not realize they have it. Johnson claims that in order to move forward we must first acknowledge that privilege and oppression are not a thing of the past. Many oppressive cultures tend to mask the reality of privilege and oppression by “denying its existence, trivializing it, calling it something else, blaming it on those most victimized by it, or diverting attention from it”. In order to grow as a society, the first step we must take is to simply acknowledge its existence. We must also pay attention in order to understand how privilege and oppression operate as well as take risks and do something about it. Although I completely agree with Johnson’s argument that we must take steps as a society in order to resolve the issue of privilege, I believe in order to further strengthen his argument he should include more concrete examples. Johnson states that we must first acknowledge the issue, pay attention, and then finally do something in order to resolve such issue. However, he does not really address how the reader should go about this. I think Johnson should include more steps or more concrete examples of how the reader could accomplish the steps he listed. Also, I think it would further strengthen his argument if he had actual examples of oppression and privilege that occurs in our society.
In what can we do? Becoming part of the solution Allan Johnson talks about the problem of privilege in our society and how we can overcome them. He talks about the problem of privilege being manifested by our societal systems and less so by individuals. The way to overcome these institutions is to go through them, despite it being seem as divisive to challenge them. He talks about becoming aware and paying attention as a crucial step and as you do you will see opportunities to challenge privilege. He recommends steps like join school organizations that challenge privilige as a way to make a difference.
If I were the author I would add substantive facts about the rise and demise of privilege as our society has changed. For example showing how privilege has decreased due to the efforts of certain student organizations in certain campuses. Conversely show how possibly other institutions in colleges can perpetuate privilege. Recently we have become very aware of the issues of privilege for certain groups and it would help add context if he talked about the issue as seem in the recent past like the 50s, 60s, and 70s to show how far we have come. Certain examples from the past and certain examples from the present could help us further identify the problems and work towards solving them.
I agree with Majd and like the idea of including more substantial facts (quantitative data) in the article. Overall, the ideas presented felt very general and didn't seem grounded in concrete examples and experiences. I also loved the idea of focusing his research on college students and institutions. College is one of the first times that students have to engage with one another in these conversations. It would therefore be interesting to see how issues of privilege are discussed and handled differently across the country. It also would add more insight to compare today's experiences to past conversations and see how oppression has or has not changed overtime. However, it might be difficult to collect research on what college students felt on these issues in the 50s, 60s, and 70s since so much time has passed.
In his article, "What Can We Do" , Alan Johson presents his readers with ways we can take part in stopping oppression and privilege that some get at the cost of others. I really appreciated Johnson's sense of passion and determination towards the ways we can all take action and contribute to these issues that are not just in the past but are in our present reality. Johnson strongly focuses on awareness, that the systems that are causing oppression can be taken apart and newly built by individuals being aware of the oppression around them, and the privilege they receive while others do not. Being conscious of what is happening around us, allows us to break the silence and take action towards social change. Social change does not take place unless the silence is broken, and awareness is raised. That is what Johnson strives to speak out to his readers. If Johnson were to rewrite his article, I would like to see the claims he makes as concrete examples. He provided some examples such as the work place, but it could also be that he could interview privileged and non privileged individuals and observe their reaction, and if the privileged individuals would actually be more aware. I would also like to see him talk about changing our perception at the individual level, because systems are made up of individuals, and no matter how much policies are in place to raise awareness, something has to strike every single individual to be aware of the issues surrounding them and being more conscious of them throughout their everyday life, such as work meetings and school where such privileges can widely be found.
I completely agree that in order to strengthen his argument, Johnson should include more concrete examples. Johnson provides strategies for how he believes we should go about resolving oppression and privilege, but he does not really address how the reader should go about this. I think he should include more step by step processes in which an individual can take in order to contribute to ending oppression. I agree that Johnson should focus more on tackling the issue at the individual level. It may be much more difficult to change society as a whole, so starting with the individual and changing their perspective might be more realistic.
Taraneh, I completely agree with you in that Johnson should take a look at examples of privilege in areas other than the work place. Privilege exists in many forms, including race, social class, economic status, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. People belonging to a privileged group in each of those categories may or may not know of the "leg-ups" they may have in their lives. It would be interesting to see what the individual perception of privilege may be. Perhaps, doing so would allow Johnson to come up with creative ideas to handle the issue at a tangible, everyday level.
I agree in that more examples would help him strengthen his argument. Awareness of privilege seems like a huge point of his so data on it could be helpful. Although it may be hard to quantify and turn it into a statistic. I believe changing our beliefs at the individual level is important as well. Today we seem to be doing a better job at this by challenging ourselves and each other to check our privilege.
In “What Can we do? Becoming Part of the Solution”, Allan Johnson illustrates how racism and oppression are systemic problems, rather than solely due to individual acts of discrimination and prejudice. He goes on to explain how ignorance and fear are two key emotions that perpetuate unequal power dynamics in society. Johnson explains how those with power are especially unaware to privileges they benefit from. What is even worse is the fact that individuals who are aware of these inequalities are afraid to publicly speak out against these injustices. According to Johnson, "every oppressive system feeds on silence" (701) which demonstrates how oppression is not only a current issue but has been a perpetuated issue throughout much of human history. Johnson's primary argument is that in order to end cycles of privilege and oppression, individuals must take actions in their every day lives to embrace their fear and correct racist commentary and actions around them.
If Johnson were to rewrite this article, he should include a micro level survey and explore different people’s attitudes - both those in dominant and subordinate groups - about privilege. Johnson discussed how privilege is often something invisible to those that have it, while those who are in subordinate groups are better at identifying its components. Examining concrete opinions would offer a more holistic representation of how those in society are affected by privilege. His argument would have been even more compelling if he conducted a similar study to the one in the documentary “True Colors: Racial Discrimination in Everyday Life”. If he followed two individuals with similar lives (other than their racial identification) and examined how they are affected by explicit and implicit discrimination, it would illustrate how prevalent racial discrimination is in modern times and how essential it is to combat oppression head on.
I would like your perspective on this article, I definitely agree that a micro level experiment would shine light on the real injustices in our society. Showing these concrete evidences would definitely offer a more holistic representation of how those marginalized people are affected and society by people with privilege. Another thing that I would add is that the authors style direct confrontation might be a little abrasive for abrupt change, in my experience, the more you for soda do something the less they want to do it. Instead, just by showing explicit And implicit discrimination examples, The nation would be better served to acknowledge it has a problem. Overall, I appreciate this author stance on these issues, if he added the tings that you mention it, I think the article would have been better written.
Allen Johnson - What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution
This article is an attempt to create a better understanding of what privilege and oppression are, and to convince the reader to become more active in fighting against the status quo. This is one of the first articles where I felt a discussion of the institutional abuses of oppression and privilege were really brought up. Johnson argues that while individuals help make oppression worse, there are entrenched societal structures that maintain the status quo. While it is important to understand how minorities are oppressed, the changes that must be implemented have to be systematic and affect institutions. There is a long history of racial oppression, and the economic and social injustices that have taken place will take a very long time to reverse. These practices are still going on today as well, and they must be changed. Johnson writes that as individuals, we can help fight these systems. By jumping in and taking some risk, individuals can first acknowledge that there is a problem, and be constantly wary of being complacent. Individuals can then begin to engage with people who are a part of the patriarchy, or are complacent with it. Point out that there are problems, and call out those who benefit from the skewed system. Make a conscious effort to not conform to the system, don’t be a part of the patriarchy. He wants the audience to band together and join organized groups. This is only a start, but even small changes can help.
I think if Johnson were to improve the article, I would disagree with the way he wants to go about change. I do respect the confrontational aspect of his system, but attacking individuals and their livelihoods is going to make them want to fight against change. Very small groups on either side of issues perpetuate social issues, and the masses tend to conform, so I think attacks on moderates are important to insight change, but again, I think the way he wants to go about it is not right. Calling out principals for being male isn’t going to get the staff to want to change. Also, the “what’s in it for me” portion seems forced. While change may benefit people, this is seriously just saying that the White Man’s Burden will be relieved. There are serious negatives for going against the status quo, and I do think there is a moral obligation to do so, but the reasoning behind this seems to be a stretch.
I do agree that “attacking” individuals and their livelihoods would not go well in attempts to make a change in society. I do feel that there needs to be statements made, but in a way that does not directly come off as an outlash. Of course, it’s almost impossible to control the way that everyone reacts to statements, but passivity can’t be continued if a change is truly desired. I agree that there needs to be more tangible steps. At times, there seems to be a pattern of oversimplification and generalization in Johnson’s steps, but I understand the difficulty of truly creating a “step by step” guide to creating change in society. It’s nearly impossible, and as Johnson repeats throughout the article, many of the change is up to the individual. It will take several more years before change is noticed because there are plenty of people who have still not been convinced to learn to support the change. There is no way that a change of this magnitude will go away overnight.
Allen Johnson - What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution Allen Johnson argues, Reclaiming the language takes us directly to the core reality that the problem is privilege and the power that maintains it. He states "Privilege exists when one group has something that is systematically denied to others not because of who they are or what they've done or not done, but because of the social category they belong to." Johnson talks about the people who have privilege and how they are stubborn to midday have it. He notes that this false sense of reality is hard for people to overcome. The author talks about how oppression can create divisiveness, because it cuts us off from one another. Many people act like oppression doesn't exist due to the reality of the situation. The author wants us to combat this by acknowledging there is a problem, many people live in a bubble of their own privilege and don't recognize that many groups are marginalized due to societies restrictions. The reason the offer credits for the systems unchanging patterns is that many people are afraid to take a risk of doing something about it. If the author were to rewrite this article, I think you'd be better served to include more concrete examples of privileged versus non-privileged people. Many times in the article he presents and ambiguous ideology of Coolidge person but never actually solidifies it to one specific mold. I think he could better improve his argument by showing real micro level examples of experiments showing up people, and showing the way his confrontational style of changing a suppressive system would work. I think the author does do a good job of going into his ideologies of how we can change societies oppression towards marginalized groups. However, if you provided more specific examples, and showed real life experiments to prove his point, I think this article would've been better written.
I completely agree with all the points you presented. The article definitely centers around privilege and the power that maintains it. In addition, I agree with your point from the article that those individuals with power often do not admit that they have any power or privilege. Additionally, I agree with your comment about how oppression can often times be divisive and that is why people tend to not bring it up, and that there are some ways that author mentions to combat the problem. I also really like your ideas of what to add to his article if he were to rewrite it. I think a micro level study of his proposals for combating privilege and oppression would be really interesting.
I think Johnson’s main argument in this article is that even though power and privilege are touchy subjects to discuss, we all need to bring them up in order to change society. He mentions that the reality is that the main problem is the power that promotes privilege. In addition, privilege is usually due to social systems not individuals, and often times individuals with privilege do not realize they have it, or deny they have it. Johnson also comments that the problem around privilege is as much a trouble of the privileged as everyone else whether or not they realize it. Lastly, Johnson provides numerous examples of ways to combat power and privilege including but not limited to acknowledging the problem is there, paying attention to your individual role in privilege and oppression, and finding little ways to stand up against power and privilege.
If Johnson were to rewrite this article, I think he should include personal interviews. He should interview individuals of color and white individuals about their personal experiences with power and privilege. Johnson mentions a lot about how white people often do not realize they have power or privilege or do not realize it is partially their job to fix it, so it would be interesting to see if these interviews align with the statements in his article. In addition, Johnson could include a micro level study following one or a few individuals as they try some of his small ways to combat power and privilege. It could include both colored and white persons and see how his suggestions actually work in real life.
In “What Can We Do,” Allan Johnson discusses the ways that society can move towards progress and take small steps towards recognizing and eliminating oppression done through privilege that one is born in. He points out things like recognizing problematic language that as part of the measures to take in reclaiming language and undergoing societal progress. He also discusses the irony of societal privilege because often times those born into certain privileges are oblivious to their privilege. As he best explains it, privilege is not created by individuals but social systems. In order to truly tackle the presence of privilege is to recognize that it still exists and change our responses towards it. Johnson also advises that as our awareness increases, we act more as individuals and take more risks in taking offered opportunities in fighting oppression. On a similar note, discomfort is apart of taking such measures to progress past from privilege and oppression in society. Johnson encourages people to speak out even if it means making others (including oneself) uncomfortable, and become a role model for others to follow suit in promoting change the same way that past leaders have done (like Martin Luther King Jr.). In addition, he encourages paying attention to the ways that different conflict interest groups interact with another, as well as, working with other people.
ReplyDeleteEssentially, Johnson emphasizes in the article the importance of working through internal issues on individual levels before working together as fellow human beings to steadily solve deeply rooted issues like privilege and oppression in society. I believe that Johnson’s most important argument throughout the entire article was the ways that people need to help one another in promoting the change. While, changes can happen within individuals, in order to make a noticeable difference against these social systems there would need to be larger groups promoting it for others (as he said in his article) to follow suit. I completely agree that guilt and blame do not necessarily need to be involved in activism. A difference is made not just with one activist, but with armies of voices “making noise” and having their ideas heard. The more people there are to create change, the more likely the chances are that it will take place because there are more people to spread their views.
In What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution, author Allen Johnson defines the issues of “exclusion, rejection, privilege, harassment, discrimination, and violence” and makes the argument that these problems still exist to this day, and that members of society need to take on a more active role in combating them. Johnson argues that a major roadblock in battling privilege is that people generally like to turn a blind eye on them and pretend that they don’t exist. Few people who decide to speak up regarding the issue are ridiculed and marked as being “divisive,” although they are only highlighting divisive practices that already exist. Johnson then argues that the very first thing we need to do collectively as a society, is to realize and acknowledge out loud that the problem is there. Doing so will allow us to take the problem apart, and start finding solutions. Johnson encourages his readers to speak up and be disruptive to the usual flow of business in an oppressive system. Doing so will make the person, and the people surrounding that person feel uncomfortable at first. However, Johnson states that this is necessary for the withdrawing of support of existing systems of oppression.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with Johnson’s argument that the issue of privilege needs to be addressed on a both systematic and individualistic levels. However, I think that Johnson will be able to make a stronger argument with more discussion of why these issues of privilege, harassment, discrimination, and violence exist to begin with. In his article, he discusses how people of all groups would more or less benefit from resolving these issues. In addition to this, Johnson should discuss what motivates people of different groups to believe in a certain system of privilege and discrimination. Deciding why such problems of division and oppression have come about, and why people are reluctant to change would help readers gain a bigger perspective on the issues.
Jamie I agree with your comment on how Johnson should address the underlying reason to the issues we have today. However, I also think that this paper might be written assuming the readers have an understanding of the oppression and privileges that are over powering our society, and this paper is used as a tool to concretely let the readers how they can be part of this social change. How we can transform our thoughts, motives, and actions to be coherent with the equality that we strive to see in our world. Although, I also think it is interesting to see what motivates people to believe in systems of privilege and discrimination, maybe in forms of specific examples of how certain individuals were exposed to these issues and why they are reluctant to change. It seems to me that some people are afraid of change, because they are so comfortable with their reality and the idea of change and transformation could be overwhelming to some, while to other it is exciting and exhilarating.
DeleteIn “What Can We Do,” Allan Johnson discusses the ways that society can move towards progress and take small steps towards recognizing and eliminating oppression done through privilege that one is born in. He points out things like recognizing problematic language that as part of the measures to take in reclaiming language and undergoing societal progress. He also discusses the irony of societal privilege because often times those born into certain privileges are oblivious to their privilege. As he best explains it, privilege is not created by individuals but social systems. In order to truly tackle the presence of privilege is to recognize that it still exists and change our responses towards it. Johnson also advises that as our awareness increases, we act more as individuals and take more risks in taking offered opportunities in fighting oppression. On a similar note, discomfort is apart of taking such measures to progress past from privilege and oppression in society. Johnson encourages people to speak out even if it means making others (including oneself) uncomfortable, and become a role model for others to follow suit in promoting change the same way that past leaders have done (like Martin Luther King Jr.). In addition, he encourages paying attention to the ways that different conflict interest groups interact with another, as well as, working with other people.
ReplyDeleteEssentially, Johnson emphasizes in the article the importance of working through internal issues on individual levels before working together as fellow human beings to steadily solve deeply rooted issues like privilege and oppression in society. I believe that Johnson’s most important argument throughout the entire article was the ways that people need to help one another in promoting the change. While, changes can happen within individuals, in order to make a noticeable difference against these social systems there would need to be larger groups promoting it for others (as he said in his article) to follow suit. I think that it would help improve the article if Johnson also added tangible baby steps that people can do individually and collectively. For instance, Johnson could add in his claims about reclaiming language to learn to have a more gender neutral way of speaking. I would also enjoy more examples written within each his step to add even more insight. I completely agree that guilt and blame do not necessarily need to be involved in activism. A difference is made not just with one activist, but with armies of voices “making noise” and having their ideas heard. The more people there are to create change, the more likely the chances are that it will take place because there are more people to spread their views.
A agree with Abby that Johnson could have laid out more specific guidelines for how to be an activist, but I don't think that was the point of the article. I think Johnson was making a call for self-reflection and for more mindful activism; he was not making a guide for new activists. His audience is current activists, not moderates, and while more clear cut examples of how to get involved would have been useful, I think this was more about creating more credible activists by having the reader consider their actions more thoroughly. Social discourse rests on unstable ground, and either side will quickly tear apart arguments that are overzealous or uninformed in the slightest. By establishing a more stable base for activism, the credibility of social causes increases. Making noise and inciting anger from moderates can very quickly turn people against a cause, especially if the cause activists are fighting for is a minority one. MLKJ promoted civil disobedience, to make noise and fight against the status quo, and it was messy and hurt the moderates in much the same way movements today do, but all of that chaos and noise was headed by the voice of reason. It is one thing to turn people's heads, but to maintain their respect after attacking and disrupting their way of life is the heart of the issue. To get people's attention, we may have to be coarse and difficult, but once that attention is gained, have something of value to say.
DeleteIn “What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution?” by Alan Johnson, he discusses the steps we must take as a society in order to resolve the issue of privilege and oppression in our society. Johnson asserts the the issue of privilege is not a feature of individuals but rather a feature of social systems. People are given privilege depending on the system they are in and the social categories they are put into as a result. Often times, those who have privilege do not realize they have it. Johnson claims that in order to move forward we must first acknowledge that privilege and oppression are not a thing of the past. Many oppressive cultures tend to mask the reality of privilege and oppression by “denying its existence, trivializing it, calling it something else, blaming it on those most victimized by it, or diverting attention from it”. In order to grow as a society, the first step we must take is to simply acknowledge its existence. We must also pay attention in order to understand how privilege and oppression operate as well as take risks and do something about it.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I completely agree with Johnson’s argument that we must take steps as a society in order to resolve the issue of privilege, I believe in order to further strengthen his argument he should include more concrete examples. Johnson states that we must first acknowledge the issue, pay attention, and then finally do something in order to resolve such issue. However, he does not really address how the reader should go about this. I think Johnson should include more steps or more concrete examples of how the reader could accomplish the steps he listed. Also, I think it would further strengthen his argument if he had actual examples of oppression and privilege that occurs in our society.
In what can we do? Becoming part of the solution Allan Johnson talks about the problem of privilege in our society and how we can overcome them. He talks about the problem of privilege being manifested by our societal systems and less so by individuals. The way to overcome these institutions is to go through them, despite it being seem as divisive to challenge them. He talks about becoming aware and paying attention as a crucial step and as you do you will see opportunities to challenge privilege. He recommends steps like join school organizations that challenge privilige as a way to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteIf I were the author I would add substantive facts about the rise and demise of privilege as our society has changed. For example showing how privilege has decreased due to the efforts of certain student organizations in certain campuses. Conversely show how possibly other institutions in colleges can perpetuate privilege. Recently we have become very aware of the issues of privilege for certain groups and it would help add context if he talked about the issue as seem in the recent past like the 50s, 60s, and 70s to show how far we have come. Certain examples from the past and certain examples from the present could help us further identify the problems and work towards solving them.
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DeleteI agree with Majd and like the idea of including more substantial facts (quantitative data) in the article. Overall, the ideas presented felt very general and didn't seem grounded in concrete examples and experiences. I also loved the idea of focusing his research on college students and institutions. College is one of the first times that students have to engage with one another in these conversations. It would therefore be interesting to see how issues of privilege are discussed and handled differently across the country. It also would add more insight to compare today's experiences to past conversations and see how oppression has or has not changed overtime. However, it might be difficult to collect research on what college students felt on these issues in the 50s, 60s, and 70s since so much time has passed.
DeleteIn his article, "What Can We Do" , Alan Johson presents his readers with ways we can take part in stopping oppression and privilege that some get at the cost of others. I really appreciated Johnson's sense of passion and determination towards the ways we can all take action and contribute to these issues that are not just in the past but are in our present reality. Johnson strongly focuses on awareness, that the systems that are causing oppression can be taken apart and newly built by individuals being aware of the oppression around them, and the privilege they receive while others do not. Being conscious of what is happening around us, allows us to break the silence and take action towards social change. Social change does not take place unless the silence is broken, and awareness is raised. That is what Johnson strives to speak out to his readers.
ReplyDeleteIf Johnson were to rewrite his article, I would like to see the claims he makes as concrete examples. He provided some examples such as the work place, but it could also be that he could interview privileged and non privileged individuals and observe their reaction, and if the privileged individuals would actually be more aware. I would also like to see him talk about changing our perception at the individual level, because systems are made up of individuals, and no matter how much policies are in place to raise awareness, something has to strike every single individual to be aware of the issues surrounding them and being more conscious of them throughout their everyday life, such as work meetings and school where such privileges can widely be found.
I completely agree that in order to strengthen his argument, Johnson should include more concrete examples. Johnson provides strategies for how he believes we should go about resolving oppression and privilege, but he does not really address how the reader should go about this. I think he should include more step by step processes in which an individual can take in order to contribute to ending oppression. I agree that Johnson should focus more on tackling the issue at the individual level. It may be much more difficult to change society as a whole, so starting with the individual and changing their perspective might be more realistic.
DeleteTaraneh, I completely agree with you in that Johnson should take a look at examples of privilege in areas other than the work place. Privilege exists in many forms, including race, social class, economic status, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. People belonging to a privileged group in each of those categories may or may not know of the "leg-ups" they may have in their lives. It would be interesting to see what the individual perception of privilege may be. Perhaps, doing so would allow Johnson to come up with creative ideas to handle the issue at a tangible, everyday level.
DeleteI agree in that more examples would help him strengthen his argument. Awareness of privilege seems like a huge point of his so data on it could be helpful. Although it may be hard to quantify and turn it into a statistic. I believe changing our beliefs at the individual level is important as well. Today we seem to be doing a better job at this by challenging ourselves and each other to check our privilege.
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ReplyDeleteIn “What Can we do? Becoming Part of the Solution”, Allan Johnson illustrates how racism and oppression are systemic problems, rather than solely due to individual acts of discrimination and prejudice. He goes on to explain how ignorance and fear are two key emotions that perpetuate unequal power dynamics in society. Johnson explains how those with power are especially unaware to privileges they benefit from. What is even worse is the fact that individuals who are aware of these inequalities are afraid to publicly speak out against these injustices. According to Johnson, "every oppressive system feeds on silence" (701) which demonstrates how oppression is not only a current issue but has been a perpetuated issue throughout much of human history. Johnson's primary argument is that in order to end cycles of privilege and oppression, individuals must take actions in their every day lives to embrace their fear and correct racist commentary and actions around them.
ReplyDeleteIf Johnson were to rewrite this article, he should include a micro level survey and explore different people’s attitudes - both those in dominant and subordinate groups - about privilege. Johnson discussed how privilege is often something invisible to those that have it, while those who are in subordinate groups are better at identifying its components. Examining concrete opinions would offer a more holistic representation of how those in society are affected by privilege. His argument would have been even more compelling if he conducted a similar study to the one in the documentary “True Colors: Racial Discrimination in Everyday Life”. If he followed two individuals with similar lives (other than their racial identification) and examined how they are affected by explicit and implicit discrimination, it would illustrate how prevalent racial discrimination is in modern times and how essential it is to combat oppression head on.
I would like your perspective on this article, I definitely agree that a micro level experiment would shine light on the real injustices in our society. Showing these concrete evidences would definitely offer a more holistic representation of how those marginalized people are affected and society by people with privilege. Another thing that I would add is that the authors style direct confrontation might be a little abrasive for abrupt change, in my experience, the more you for soda do something the less they want to do it. Instead, just by showing explicit And implicit discrimination examples, The nation would be better served to acknowledge it has a problem. Overall, I appreciate this author stance on these issues, if he added the tings that you mention it, I think the article would have been better written.
DeleteAllen Johnson - What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution
ReplyDeleteThis article is an attempt to create a better understanding of what privilege and oppression are, and to convince the reader to become more active in fighting against the status quo. This is one of the first articles where I felt a discussion of the institutional abuses of oppression and privilege were really brought up. Johnson argues that while individuals help make oppression worse, there are entrenched societal structures that maintain the status quo. While it is important to understand how minorities are oppressed, the changes that must be implemented have to be systematic and affect institutions. There is a long history of racial oppression, and the economic and social injustices that have taken place will take a very long time to reverse. These practices are still going on today as well, and they must be changed. Johnson writes that as individuals, we can help fight these systems. By jumping in and taking some risk, individuals can first acknowledge that there is a problem, and be constantly wary of being complacent. Individuals can then begin to engage with people who are a part of the patriarchy, or are complacent with it. Point out that there are problems, and call out those who benefit from the skewed system. Make a conscious effort to not conform to the system, don’t be a part of the patriarchy. He wants the audience to band together and join organized groups. This is only a start, but even small changes can help.
I think if Johnson were to improve the article, I would disagree with the way he wants to go about change. I do respect the confrontational aspect of his system, but attacking individuals and their livelihoods is going to make them want to fight against change. Very small groups on either side of issues perpetuate social issues, and the masses tend to conform, so I think attacks on moderates are important to insight change, but again, I think the way he wants to go about it is not right. Calling out principals for being male isn’t going to get the staff to want to change. Also, the “what’s in it for me” portion seems forced. While change may benefit people, this is seriously just saying that the White Man’s Burden will be relieved. There are serious negatives for going against the status quo, and I do think there is a moral obligation to do so, but the reasoning behind this seems to be a stretch.
I do agree that “attacking” individuals and their livelihoods would not go well in attempts to make a change in society. I do feel that there needs to be statements made, but in a way that does not directly come off as an outlash. Of course, it’s almost impossible to control the way that everyone reacts to statements, but passivity can’t be continued if a change is truly desired. I agree that there needs to be more tangible steps. At times, there seems to be a pattern of oversimplification and generalization in Johnson’s steps, but I understand the difficulty of truly creating a “step by step” guide to creating change in society. It’s nearly impossible, and as Johnson repeats throughout the article, many of the change is up to the individual. It will take several more years before change is noticed because there are plenty of people who have still not been convinced to learn to support the change. There is no way that a change of this magnitude will go away overnight.
DeleteAllen Johnson - What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution
ReplyDeleteAllen Johnson argues, Reclaiming the language takes us directly to the core reality that the problem is privilege and the power that maintains it. He states "Privilege exists when one group has something that is systematically denied to others not because of who they are or what they've done or not done, but because of the social category they belong to." Johnson talks about the people who have privilege and how they are stubborn to midday have it. He notes that this false sense of reality is hard for people to overcome. The author talks about how oppression can create divisiveness, because it cuts us off from one another. Many people act like oppression doesn't exist due to the reality of the situation. The author wants us to combat this by acknowledging there is a problem, many people live in a bubble of their own privilege and don't recognize that many groups are marginalized due to societies restrictions. The reason the offer credits for the systems unchanging patterns is that many people are afraid to take a risk of doing something about it.
If the author were to rewrite this article, I think you'd be better served to include more concrete examples of privileged versus non-privileged people. Many times in the article he presents and ambiguous ideology of Coolidge person but never actually solidifies it to one specific mold. I think he could better improve his argument by showing real micro level examples of experiments showing up people, and showing the way his confrontational style of changing a suppressive system would work. I think the author does do a good job of going into his ideologies of how we can change societies oppression towards marginalized groups. However, if you provided more specific examples, and showed real life experiments to prove his point, I think this article would've been better written.
I completely agree with all the points you presented. The article definitely centers around privilege and the power that maintains it. In addition, I agree with your point from the article that those individuals with power often do not admit that they have any power or privilege. Additionally, I agree with your comment about how oppression can often times be divisive and that is why people tend to not bring it up, and that there are some ways that author mentions to combat the problem. I also really like your ideas of what to add to his article if he were to rewrite it. I think a micro level study of his proposals for combating privilege and oppression would be really interesting.
Delete“What Can We Do?” by Allan G. Johnson
ReplyDeleteI think Johnson’s main argument in this article is that even though power and privilege are touchy subjects to discuss, we all need to bring them up in order to change society. He mentions that the reality is that the main problem is the power that promotes privilege. In addition, privilege is usually due to social systems not individuals, and often times individuals with privilege do not realize they have it, or deny they have it. Johnson also comments that the problem around privilege is as much a trouble of the privileged as everyone else whether or not they realize it. Lastly, Johnson provides numerous examples of ways to combat power and privilege including but not limited to acknowledging the problem is there, paying attention to your individual role in privilege and oppression, and finding little ways to stand up against power and privilege.
If Johnson were to rewrite this article, I think he should include personal interviews. He should interview individuals of color and white individuals about their personal experiences with power and privilege. Johnson mentions a lot about how white people often do not realize they have power or privilege or do not realize it is partially their job to fix it, so it would be interesting to see if these interviews align with the statements in his article. In addition, Johnson could include a micro level study following one or a few individuals as they try some of his small ways to combat power and privilege. It could include both colored and white persons and see how his suggestions actually work in real life.