Social Inequalities: White Privilege, Capitalism, and Religious Privileges

White Privilege in Society Today

REPLY TO 2 DISCUSSIONS DISCUSSION 1 FROM:Heshwyn Appadoo The most common example of privilege in society today is none other than white privilege. This is a type of privilege that has existed for decades and will probably exist for even longer, despite the numerous efforts made to tackle it in the past, and still being done today. White people are less likely to face racial discrimination, more likely to have good relationships with authorities, more likely to attend good schools and receive a good education, more likely to be favored by school authorities, less likely to be stereotyped than black people, and these are just a few among the diverse examples of inequalities due to skin color. Equality, defined as the way everyone is treated the same without thinking of their background, needs, circumstances, or history is clearly not applied with white privilege when we can notice those inequalities created due to skin color. With the recent occurrence and the slogan #Blacklivesmatter, many efforts have been made to try to give those people justice. Many colored people are using this as an opportunity and stepping stone in order to get back their lost dignity, self-respect and to finally get what they truly deserve, and to prove themselves and be valued for their intelligence, talent, capacity, and behavior, rather than their looks or skin color. Power and privilege are real in society. With all the different types of social inequalities, the one that continues is the gap between the rich and the poor in society. Capitalism creates a pyramid where a selected few own the majority of assets and money and power, while the majority struggles and keep working harder for little. In sociology, the proletariat and capitalism system would be the best way to describe this. Therefore, as long as this remains, social inequalities will continue to exist whereby some people will always be favored because they have more money or because they come from a certain background,... compared to others. We are encouraged to do networking, but even with a network there can be social inequalities, where for example, someone can get a better job or even can get hired faster, not necessarily because they have more talent but rather because of a better network, which can speak in their favor. This is the reality of today's world. A personal example of privilege would be related to capitalism as mentioned. I know many classmates who came from richer families and this really plays a big role, because they had access to better schools, they had better networks and they were most likely the ones favored in many aspects such as competitions, and they were not necessarily better than anyone else, but the only difference was their family background. Personally, I believe I could go to the University of Harvard if my family was rich for me to get admitted there, because of my friend who was sitting next to me in secondary school, now a Harvard student, and who was not more academically gifted than me, but rather who came from better family background. Without envy or jealousy, this is the reality of society. However, it is still possible to curb this inequality with hard work, smart decisions, and most importantly by praying DISCUSSION 2 FROM Tibin Thomas Personally, I have many times experienced these religious privileges. In my local society, educational institutions are mostly run by the religious institutions to which I belong to. The practices and culture followed in our schools as a result mostly followed around our religion like prayers, stories we were told, persons we celebrate, the holidays we have etc. Since I belonged to the same religion it was very easy for me to be part of this group and practices, but the people from other religions might have felt different. For example, we had special religious prayers on some evenings, there weren't any classes at those times and the majority of us who belong to the religion went to participate in these prayers. But there were a few children from other religions who had to sit in the class for hours with nothing to do. They felt isolated and bored. Also, these religious privileges also helped in case of admissions as we already know the people who run these institutions. I acknowledge that I would have been on the opposite end of privilege if I had been part of institutions of another religion. But although these advantages seem very small these were privileges which made my life easier compared to others. The other people had to work harder or had to endure some difficulties to achieve the same things I achieved.