White privilege is a fact of life in America and always has been the domain of white men of wealth. This was established by the founding fathers who worded the constitution in such a way that it protected the rights and privileges of rich white men, only allowing landowners to vote. From there, privilege has spread into all areas of society. Unearned privilege comes with just being born white, which carries with it the concept of being better than men of color, or so-called inferior races, and of the rights this privilege confers on the holder. Most people are not even aware of this privilege or the effect it has on their lives. They have never known anything different, so they never give it a thought.
"Privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to rather than because of anything they've done or failed to do" (Johnson, 2001, 23). Privilege comes in two types: unearned privilege is something that all people should have , e.g. safety in the workplace, but when this becomes restricted to certain groups, then it becomes an unearned advantage. Unearned advantages often gives the dominant group the competitive edge, as in the difference between upper class and working class males. There are much better opportunities available to a young man from an upper class background than to one from a working class background. Yet these working class males still have privilege over men of color and even over white females.
The second form of privilege is conferred dominance, in which one group has power over another (Johnson, 2001, 26). This type of privilege is much harder to overcome than the simple unearned privilege. People hold on to positions of power fiercely. Men in this country have always felt they have power over women, so tend to dominate them, and women have difficulty in breaking into traditional male professions. Certain professions are ...