Privilege, Power, and Difference - Softcover

Johnson, Allan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0767422546 ISBN 13: 9780767422543

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education, 2001

Synopsis

This brief supplemental book provides students with an easily applied theoretical model for thinking about systems of privilege and difference. Writing in accessible, conversational prose, Johnson joins theory with engaging examples in ways that enable students to see the nature and consequences of privilege and their connection to it.

About this title

From the Publisher

A concise, coherent framework provides students with conceptual and theoretical tools they can readily apply in order to understand systems of privilege and their own participation in them. The book's framework is based on the premise that the causes of oppression stem not simply from individuals or from social systems, but from the complex relation between them.
An approach that challenges without provoking resistance and denial. The power of the theoretical framework flows from its ability to show how systems of privilege work in relation to individuals without invoking individual guilt and blame. This, combined with a non-threatening tone that draws on the author's personal experience, helps students who belong to dominant groups look at issues in relation to themselves without provoking resistance and denial, and invites them to become part of the solution and not just part of the problem.
Emphasis on the intersection of different forms of privilege and oppression. Johnson presents different forms of privilege and oppression as interdependent and intersecting rather than as separate and autonomous.
Exceptional clarity. Through his other books'The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy (1997), The Forest and the Trees (1997), and The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology (2e, 2000), Johnson has earned a reputation for writing that is exceptionally clear and explanations of complex ideas that are accessible to a broad audience.
Responds to the most difficult question: What can we do? The final chapter discusses concrete ways students can use their new understanding of privilege and oppression to participate in social change and make a difference.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0767422546
• ISBN 13: 9780767422543
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 197