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The Perils of "Privilege": Why Injustice Can't Be Solved by Accusing Others of Advantage
Top 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2017–The Washington Post
“Privilege”―the word, the idea, the accusation that is nearly impossible to disprove―is the new rhetorical power play. From social media to academia, public speech to casual conversation, the word is utilized to brand people of all kinds with a term once reserved exclusively for those who came from wealth and old money―inherited advantage.
Today “privileged” applies to anyone who enjoys an unearned advantage in life, inherited or not. White privilege, male privilege, straight privilege―those conditions make everyday life easier, less stressful, more lucrative, and generally better for those who hold one, two, or all three designations. But what about white female privilege in the context of feminism? Or fixed gender privilege in the context of transgender? Or weight and height privilege in the context of hiring practices and salary levels? Or food privilege in the context of widening inequality for single-parent families?
In The Perils of “Privilege,” Phoebe Maltz Bovy examines the rise of this word into extraordinary potency. Does calling out privilege help to change or soften it? Or simply reinforce it by dividing people against themselves? And is privilege a concept that, in fact, only privileged people are debating? The Perils of “Privilege” explores how this word is deployed, and offers ways to begin anew so many of the conversations it has silenced.
“Privilege”―the word, the idea, the accusation that is nearly impossible to disprove―is the new rhetorical power play. From social media to academia, public speech to casual conversation, the word is utilized to brand people of all kinds with a term once reserved exclusively for those who came from wealth and old money―inherited advantage.
Today “privileged” applies to anyone who enjoys an unearned advantage in life, inherited or not. White privilege, male privilege, straight privilege―those conditions make everyday life easier, less stressful, more lucrative, and generally better for those who hold one, two, or all three designations. But what about white female privilege in the context of feminism? Or fixed gender privilege in the context of transgender? Or weight and height privilege in the context of hiring practices and salary levels? Or food privilege in the context of widening inequality for single-parent families?
In The Perils of “Privilege,” Phoebe Maltz Bovy examines the rise of this word into extraordinary potency. Does calling out privilege help to change or soften it? Or simply reinforce it by dividing people against themselves? And is privilege a concept that, in fact, only privileged people are debating? The Perils of “Privilege” explores how this word is deployed, and offers ways to begin anew so many of the conversations it has silenced.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published March 14, 2017
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March 15, 2017
The Perils of "Privilege": Why Injustice Can't Be Solved by Accusing Others of Advantage by Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a very highly recommended, blunt and well-documented discussion of the current social justice phenomena of accusing people of "Privilege" and the ever present insult to people "Your privilege is showing" or YPIS.
Author Maltz Bovy states that The Perils of "Privilege" is an argument against using the concept of privilege to understand and fight against injustice. "It is an attempt at taking a step back and asking whether the privilege-awareness project is a valuable one. And it’s my sense - with some caveats - that it’s been a disaster." "This is the biggest theoretical challenge to the privilege turn: An approach that’s ostensibly about achieving social justice winds up suggesting, or seeming to suggest, that everyone should be miserable. A further flaw: "Privilege" is based on an analogy, namely that other forms of unearned advantage are similar to, and as important as, wealth." It is all about sensitivities and tends to make far too much of minor problems and far too little of big ones.
Chapter 1 covers the online privilege conversation, a tangled accusatory atmosphere where it is easy to call out someone for YPIS, as I'm sure many people have observed. Chapter 2 looks at American high schools and universities who now regularly host privilege-awareness workshops and now Privilege Studies is an academic field." I know from personal experience that these workshops are presented in a wide variety of careers, including all public school employees and expanding to health care fields. Chapter 3 shows the "impact privilege theory has had on the arts and on cultural criticism. Books, movies, and TV shows are now evaluated in terms of privilege, to the exclusion of all other observations or reactions." Chapter 4 examines the effect and the presence of privilege on politics. Chapter 5 examines the use of privilege by the far right and the plight of the straight, white, middle-class male, among others.
This is an excellent, thought-provoking well-written look at privilege. Phoebe Maltz Bovy makes a plethora of thoughtful comments and provides well-documented examples. In many ways this book is over whelming because there is so much information and so many examples. It is information-dense. According to her calling out someone for YPIS harms more than it helps. It has become a way to bully people online, which has caused irreparable damage to its original use. As she succinctly states: "There is, of course, the even stronger case for checking the privilege of privilege checkers, namely that the people making these accusations tend to be fairly privileged themselves." I really agree with her that all of these accusations of YPIS terrify people that they’re losing the basic right to express themselves, their freedom of speech.
The first time I saw the accusation or thinly veiled insult of "your privilege is showing" was in a comment on a book review. I was rather taken aback that in order to disagree with what I assumed was a white male book reviewer based on his picture, the female commenting had to tell him YPIS. This was for a review on a novel, fiction. So, rather than saying you disagree and envisioned the characters another way, it made more sense to attack the reviewer's privileged status, which is really just a kind of trolling. Goodness.
Then there are the encounters with privilege-awareness-raising exercises. The questions require participants to disclose information, private information, that, perhaps, you don't really want made public to co-workers. However, if you chose to hide certain information then you are higher on the privileged scale. It becomes a dilemma. You certainly don't want to be near the front of the room with the well-educated, cis, white male, but how much do you really want to reveal about yourself or your background?
A couple of quotes - and I had pages of them saved - that I'm including without comment:
"[P]olitical commentator Andrew Sullivan.... spelled out the Trump-and-privilege connection in a New York magazine piece that, while highly critical of Trump, sought to understand where his supporters were coming from: A struggling white man in the heartland is now told to 'check his privilege' by students at Ivy League colleges. Even if you agree that the privilege exists, it’s hard not to empathize with the object of this disdain."
"Thanks to the privilege framework, it’s possible - no matter who you are, or why you’re doing so - to bash women and be given the benefit of the doubt. Well done, privilege framework. Well played."
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Press.
on 3/17/17: http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/
Author Maltz Bovy states that The Perils of "Privilege" is an argument against using the concept of privilege to understand and fight against injustice. "It is an attempt at taking a step back and asking whether the privilege-awareness project is a valuable one. And it’s my sense - with some caveats - that it’s been a disaster." "This is the biggest theoretical challenge to the privilege turn: An approach that’s ostensibly about achieving social justice winds up suggesting, or seeming to suggest, that everyone should be miserable. A further flaw: "Privilege" is based on an analogy, namely that other forms of unearned advantage are similar to, and as important as, wealth." It is all about sensitivities and tends to make far too much of minor problems and far too little of big ones.
Chapter 1 covers the online privilege conversation, a tangled accusatory atmosphere where it is easy to call out someone for YPIS, as I'm sure many people have observed. Chapter 2 looks at American high schools and universities who now regularly host privilege-awareness workshops and now Privilege Studies is an academic field." I know from personal experience that these workshops are presented in a wide variety of careers, including all public school employees and expanding to health care fields. Chapter 3 shows the "impact privilege theory has had on the arts and on cultural criticism. Books, movies, and TV shows are now evaluated in terms of privilege, to the exclusion of all other observations or reactions." Chapter 4 examines the effect and the presence of privilege on politics. Chapter 5 examines the use of privilege by the far right and the plight of the straight, white, middle-class male, among others.
This is an excellent, thought-provoking well-written look at privilege. Phoebe Maltz Bovy makes a plethora of thoughtful comments and provides well-documented examples. In many ways this book is over whelming because there is so much information and so many examples. It is information-dense. According to her calling out someone for YPIS harms more than it helps. It has become a way to bully people online, which has caused irreparable damage to its original use. As she succinctly states: "There is, of course, the even stronger case for checking the privilege of privilege checkers, namely that the people making these accusations tend to be fairly privileged themselves." I really agree with her that all of these accusations of YPIS terrify people that they’re losing the basic right to express themselves, their freedom of speech.
The first time I saw the accusation or thinly veiled insult of "your privilege is showing" was in a comment on a book review. I was rather taken aback that in order to disagree with what I assumed was a white male book reviewer based on his picture, the female commenting had to tell him YPIS. This was for a review on a novel, fiction. So, rather than saying you disagree and envisioned the characters another way, it made more sense to attack the reviewer's privileged status, which is really just a kind of trolling. Goodness.
Then there are the encounters with privilege-awareness-raising exercises. The questions require participants to disclose information, private information, that, perhaps, you don't really want made public to co-workers. However, if you chose to hide certain information then you are higher on the privileged scale. It becomes a dilemma. You certainly don't want to be near the front of the room with the well-educated, cis, white male, but how much do you really want to reveal about yourself or your background?
A couple of quotes - and I had pages of them saved - that I'm including without comment:
"[P]olitical commentator Andrew Sullivan.... spelled out the Trump-and-privilege connection in a New York magazine piece that, while highly critical of Trump, sought to understand where his supporters were coming from: A struggling white man in the heartland is now told to 'check his privilege' by students at Ivy League colleges. Even if you agree that the privilege exists, it’s hard not to empathize with the object of this disdain."
"Thanks to the privilege framework, it’s possible - no matter who you are, or why you’re doing so - to bash women and be given the benefit of the doubt. Well done, privilege framework. Well played."
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Press.
on 3/17/17: http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/
November 14, 2017
This book had a lot of interesting commentary. The author clearly states she is writing from the perspective of a liberal Jewish feminist Hillary Clinton supporter. While I may be part Jewish, I'm not any of the other things, and disliked all the people for president on my ballot last November. Nevertheless, the subject of privilege, what it means and how much is matters, is a significant factor in American social life right now whether we are discussing art or politics. But, should it matter?
The author argues the privilege construct and viewing life through the lens of privilege has some significant flaws. One of her first points is that there is no good answer for what positive thing(s) follow(s) after privilege is checked. So, you've checked your thin-privilege, above-average-looks privilege, above-average-height privilege, race privilege, gender privilege, American privilege, education privilege, etc... so you are aware, then what? Repeatedly being made aware of a system of privilege sends what message? What seems to be the impact often is reinforcement of the class hierarchy rather than social leveling. Isn't that kind of the opposite of empowering people to be all they can be and transcend wherever they start from if that is what they want?
It is essentially impossible to demand someone check their privilege without there being an element of attacking the person in a conversation. No matter how needed it may seem in a situation, it adds a hostile element to the conversation. If someone tells you to "check your privilege", it's about you, not about whatever the subject at hand may be.
Final comment before some quotes below, the commentary of Jewish privilege was very interesting in that the author points out that checking Jewish privilege was part of how National Socialist Germany began to marginalize the Jews as they worked their way into the holocaust. Jews then as now are better off on average that other white people in the USA. The author notes that the average American Jewish family makes three times more than the average American white family and on a whole are more likely to have college degrees and work in some sort of white collar field.
When reading non-fiction I usually try to have a pen or pencil handy to mark the margin near things that catch my eye. There were a lot of things in this book I marked up. Some of them are:
"The problem is that today's meritocratic elites cannot admit to themselves that they are elites. Everybody thinks they are counterculture rebels, insurgents against the true establishment, which is always somewhere else...." (author quoting David Brooks)
(on privilege) "It's a new conceptual framework, as well as a new way of interacting with others, of understanding society, and of critiquing arts and entertainment. Depending on who you ask, it's either an essential term that only the willfully obtuse (and excessively privileged)would object to, or a conversation stopper up there with Godwin's law (that is, comparing your detractor in a comment thread to Hitler."
(on privilege) "On the Internet, it makes for trusty kindling, and in the popular imagination, a cudgel: when people think of 'privilege' being used, it's almost always as a epithet, to shame. and in a Salon piece otherwise favorable to the concept of privilege, Mary Elizabeth Williams referred to the privilege-checking phrase itself as 'Is there gluten in this?' of public discourse, an expression so promiscuously deployed it's bound to incite a few eye-rolls along the way."
"... rich people's upward-directed class resentment now passes for social protest."
"...privilege awareness has become a status symbol- one that, by definition requires having privilege about which one can be aware."
"The theory of micro-aggression can't help but seem to me a mostly an indicator of how radically devoid of other threats our lives in America have become - at least in the fortunate part of the country where people go to college." - Wesley Yang
"...privilege awareness has made it more difficult for base-line-well-meaning men, white people, etc., to treat members of marginalized groups as people, and not as anthropomorphized discussion points."
"Privilege criticism leaves no conceptual space for enjoyment that isn't in line with politics or identity, particularly for any reader/viewer who isn't a white man, and therefore able to go to the antisensitivity route without getting accused of personal hypocrisy."
"Both the social justice left and the so called 'alt-right' view the world primarily through the lens of identity politics." - Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Political correctness requires more than ordinary courtesy; it's a ritual, like knowing which fork to use, by which superior people recognize each other." - Clive Crook
"Privilege" is best understood not as a real trait, but as a construction. Anyone can be "privileged" if it suits someone else's argument. There is no wealth or income threshold for "privileged". It doesn't require membership in the One Percent, or even the top 50 percent. And anyone can, with the proper flourish, play the role of the implicitly underprivileged. To call out another person's white privilege, you yourself can be white. And to call out class privilege, you don't need to demonstrate that you yourself aren't a J. Crew wearing Whole Foods shopper. The trick is simply to announce that this other person is those things, and to do so in a tone that suggests that you go around in a potato sack and subsist on lentils (or better yet, because lentils suggest cultural capital, McDonald's). YPIS is about constructing an underdog stance. It's about making it look like you are craning your neck to look (and punch) up, regardless of where you are situated."
"Built into 'PRIVILEGE' is the idea that the normal state of affairs is for things to be going TERRIBLY. This assumption emerged as a necessary corrective to the idea that it is normal to 'rich', 'white', or 'able-bodied', and so forth, but has wound up-as tends to happen with privilege-as overcorrection. It can seem as if the desired goal is for everyone to be oppressed rather than for all to be free from oppression."
The author argues the privilege construct and viewing life through the lens of privilege has some significant flaws. One of her first points is that there is no good answer for what positive thing(s) follow(s) after privilege is checked. So, you've checked your thin-privilege, above-average-looks privilege, above-average-height privilege, race privilege, gender privilege, American privilege, education privilege, etc... so you are aware, then what? Repeatedly being made aware of a system of privilege sends what message? What seems to be the impact often is reinforcement of the class hierarchy rather than social leveling. Isn't that kind of the opposite of empowering people to be all they can be and transcend wherever they start from if that is what they want?
It is essentially impossible to demand someone check their privilege without there being an element of attacking the person in a conversation. No matter how needed it may seem in a situation, it adds a hostile element to the conversation. If someone tells you to "check your privilege", it's about you, not about whatever the subject at hand may be.
Final comment before some quotes below, the commentary of Jewish privilege was very interesting in that the author points out that checking Jewish privilege was part of how National Socialist Germany began to marginalize the Jews as they worked their way into the holocaust. Jews then as now are better off on average that other white people in the USA. The author notes that the average American Jewish family makes three times more than the average American white family and on a whole are more likely to have college degrees and work in some sort of white collar field.
When reading non-fiction I usually try to have a pen or pencil handy to mark the margin near things that catch my eye. There were a lot of things in this book I marked up. Some of them are:
"The problem is that today's meritocratic elites cannot admit to themselves that they are elites. Everybody thinks they are counterculture rebels, insurgents against the true establishment, which is always somewhere else...." (author quoting David Brooks)
(on privilege) "It's a new conceptual framework, as well as a new way of interacting with others, of understanding society, and of critiquing arts and entertainment. Depending on who you ask, it's either an essential term that only the willfully obtuse (and excessively privileged)would object to, or a conversation stopper up there with Godwin's law (that is, comparing your detractor in a comment thread to Hitler."
(on privilege) "On the Internet, it makes for trusty kindling, and in the popular imagination, a cudgel: when people think of 'privilege' being used, it's almost always as a epithet, to shame. and in a Salon piece otherwise favorable to the concept of privilege, Mary Elizabeth Williams referred to the privilege-checking phrase itself as 'Is there gluten in this?' of public discourse, an expression so promiscuously deployed it's bound to incite a few eye-rolls along the way."
"... rich people's upward-directed class resentment now passes for social protest."
"...privilege awareness has become a status symbol- one that, by definition requires having privilege about which one can be aware."
"The theory of micro-aggression can't help but seem to me a mostly an indicator of how radically devoid of other threats our lives in America have become - at least in the fortunate part of the country where people go to college." - Wesley Yang
"...privilege awareness has made it more difficult for base-line-well-meaning men, white people, etc., to treat members of marginalized groups as people, and not as anthropomorphized discussion points."
"Privilege criticism leaves no conceptual space for enjoyment that isn't in line with politics or identity, particularly for any reader/viewer who isn't a white man, and therefore able to go to the antisensitivity route without getting accused of personal hypocrisy."
"Both the social justice left and the so called 'alt-right' view the world primarily through the lens of identity politics." - Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Political correctness requires more than ordinary courtesy; it's a ritual, like knowing which fork to use, by which superior people recognize each other." - Clive Crook
"Privilege" is best understood not as a real trait, but as a construction. Anyone can be "privileged" if it suits someone else's argument. There is no wealth or income threshold for "privileged". It doesn't require membership in the One Percent, or even the top 50 percent. And anyone can, with the proper flourish, play the role of the implicitly underprivileged. To call out another person's white privilege, you yourself can be white. And to call out class privilege, you don't need to demonstrate that you yourself aren't a J. Crew wearing Whole Foods shopper. The trick is simply to announce that this other person is those things, and to do so in a tone that suggests that you go around in a potato sack and subsist on lentils (or better yet, because lentils suggest cultural capital, McDonald's). YPIS is about constructing an underdog stance. It's about making it look like you are craning your neck to look (and punch) up, regardless of where you are situated."
"Built into 'PRIVILEGE' is the idea that the normal state of affairs is for things to be going TERRIBLY. This assumption emerged as a necessary corrective to the idea that it is normal to 'rich', 'white', or 'able-bodied', and so forth, but has wound up-as tends to happen with privilege-as overcorrection. It can seem as if the desired goal is for everyone to be oppressed rather than for all to be free from oppression."
January 27, 2021
2021 updated review here
I'm not very familiar with the idea of "privilege", so I decided it would be a good idea read up on it, especially since I see notions of it creeping into Singapore culture (the word "Chinese privilege" has been appearing a few times). I am normally wary of importing American social justice methods wholesale, because it seems to have led to a more divided America which makes me question its efficacy and more importantly, because Singapore is not America and we need to adjust for that.
But I am digressing. I spent one day just reading the book and writing out my thoughts on it. Normally, I'd copy the review over, but it's much, much longer than anything I've ever done, so I'll just link to it.
The Perils of Privilege is an introduction and critique of the privilege framework and the phenomenon of calling out the privilege of others (abbreviated as YPIS - Your Privilege is Showing). If I were to pick one quote to summarise the whole book, it would be:
The book uses YPIS to discuss a wide range of things issues from the 2016 American election to cultural appropriation (like the Kimono exhibit from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts). I really liked these quotes from the discussion on the kimono controversy (if you didn't know, a few Asian-Americans were upset when a replica of a kimono worn in a painting by Monet was made for visitors to try on):
To continue summarising the book would make this review far too long (the link above will lead to the full summary), but in short, I think this is something that everyone should read because the concept of "privilege" is something that has left American shores and traveled around the world. The book uses many examples to explain what the privilege framework is and how it can be problematic.
As for me, I think that the privilege framework should stay in academia. It is a valid way of seeing things, but I think this victim hierarchy has a way of diverting attention from the real problem.
Let's call a spade a spade, and not by a different name. I sincerely hope that the fledgling privilege movement in Singapore (which seems to be a wholesale importation of the American framework, but with the names of the privileged change) is discarded for a method that is more accurate and less divisive than the privilege call outs.
Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGally in exchange for a free and honest review.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
I'm not very familiar with the idea of "privilege", so I decided it would be a good idea read up on it, especially since I see notions of it creeping into Singapore culture (the word "Chinese privilege" has been appearing a few times). I am normally wary of importing American social justice methods wholesale, because it seems to have led to a more divided America which makes me question its efficacy and more importantly, because Singapore is not America and we need to adjust for that.
But I am digressing. I spent one day just reading the book and writing out my thoughts on it. Normally, I'd copy the review over, but it's much, much longer than anything I've ever done, so I'll just link to it.
The Perils of Privilege is an introduction and critique of the privilege framework and the phenomenon of calling out the privilege of others (abbreviated as YPIS - Your Privilege is Showing). If I were to pick one quote to summarise the whole book, it would be:
"On this much, the privilege framework is accurate: Society has hierarchies, and some categories of people are - all things equal - luckier than others. Those who deny that "privilege" exists in those broad, sweeping areas where you need your head rather deep in the sand not to have noticed [...] need not so much a privilege check as an introduction to reality.
The trouble is that those hierarchies don't explain all injustice, and that they don't always correspond to the hierarchies that "count" according to the privilege framework."
The book uses YPIS to discuss a wide range of things issues from the 2016 American election to cultural appropriation (like the Kimono exhibit from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts). I really liked these quotes from the discussion on the kimono controversy (if you didn't know, a few Asian-Americans were upset when a replica of a kimono worn in a painting by Monet was made for visitors to try on):
"According to news reports, Japanese observers were partly baffled, but also annoyed at having their plight, not so much appropriated, as invented by other East Asians. Can Chinese Americans by offended on behalf of Japanese people who, when consulted, are not actually offended?
Yet a further, ignored, angle is the question of whether it's offensive (or even inaccurate) to suggest that Japanese people are somehow underdogs with respect to white Americans in the twenty-first century.
The appropriation discussion is thus a microcosm of the privilege critique more generally. Despite being ostensibly about social justice, it ends up reinforcing and maybe even inventing hierarchies."
To continue summarising the book would make this review far too long (the link above will lead to the full summary), but in short, I think this is something that everyone should read because the concept of "privilege" is something that has left American shores and traveled around the world. The book uses many examples to explain what the privilege framework is and how it can be problematic.
As for me, I think that the privilege framework should stay in academia. It is a valid way of seeing things, but I think this victim hierarchy has a way of diverting attention from the real problem.
Let's call a spade a spade, and not by a different name. I sincerely hope that the fledgling privilege movement in Singapore (which seems to be a wholesale importation of the American framework, but with the names of the privileged change) is discarded for a method that is more accurate and less divisive than the privilege call outs.
Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGally in exchange for a free and honest review.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
December 4, 2017
I read this because, hellooooo, I used to be one of the people perpetuating the nonsense that the author is criticizing (which I think can largely be attributed to a.) my youth/naiveté at the time and b.) my inability to resolve my own angst and feelings of rejection.) I think a lot of people get stuck in this rut of obsessing over so-called "micro-aggressions," of turning over every rock in search of signs of something "problematic," all the while alienating people who might otherwise care about the same issues of inequality and so forth. For me, this book helped me to come to terms with that, so I recommend it to anyone with a similar background.
Okay, so, self-flagellation aside, here's what I think is one of the best excerpts from this well-argued (and often hilarious!) book-- "'Privilege' is best understood not as a real trait, but as a construction. Anyone can be 'privileged' if it suits someone else's argument. There's no wealth or income threshold for 'privileged.' It doesn't require membership in the One Percent, or even the top 50 percent. And anyone can, with proper rhetorical flourish, play the role of the implicitly underprivileged. To call out another person's white privilege, you yourself can be white. And to call out class privilege, you don't need to demonstrate that you yourself aren't a J.Crew-wearing Whole Foods shopper. The trick is simply to announce that this OTHER person is those things, and to do so in a tone that SUGGESTS that you go around in a potato sack and subsist on lentils (or better yet- because lentils suggest cultural capital- McDonald's. YPIS [Your Privilege is Showing] is about constructing an underdog STANCE. It's about making as if you're craning your neck to look (and punch) up, regardless of where you're situated.... Referring to everyone who isn't desperately poor as 'privileged' may be inaccurate as well as off-putting. Yet it's a shortcut to always seeming self-aware."
Okay, so, self-flagellation aside, here's what I think is one of the best excerpts from this well-argued (and often hilarious!) book-- "'Privilege' is best understood not as a real trait, but as a construction. Anyone can be 'privileged' if it suits someone else's argument. There's no wealth or income threshold for 'privileged.' It doesn't require membership in the One Percent, or even the top 50 percent. And anyone can, with proper rhetorical flourish, play the role of the implicitly underprivileged. To call out another person's white privilege, you yourself can be white. And to call out class privilege, you don't need to demonstrate that you yourself aren't a J.Crew-wearing Whole Foods shopper. The trick is simply to announce that this OTHER person is those things, and to do so in a tone that SUGGESTS that you go around in a potato sack and subsist on lentils (or better yet- because lentils suggest cultural capital- McDonald's. YPIS [Your Privilege is Showing] is about constructing an underdog STANCE. It's about making as if you're craning your neck to look (and punch) up, regardless of where you're situated.... Referring to everyone who isn't desperately poor as 'privileged' may be inaccurate as well as off-putting. Yet it's a shortcut to always seeming self-aware."
November 8, 2018
After you open this book, prepare yourself for a cringe-inducing journey. People accusing other people for being ignorant for the ‘privilege’ they supposed to have, either real or imagined, rich kids trying to enter college by portraying themselves as poor people in their motivational letters, hollywood artists making ‘privilege aware’ comedy, which are not funny at all (I thank the author for pointing out that John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty is an example of funny humour, while Aziz Ansari’s Dev is not, despite its awareness of privilege). The point is, rather than making things better, accusations of privilege is making things worse, beating people into shame for something that they should not for most of the time, masking ulterior motives behind those accusations, such as jealousy for a start. Overall, this is a book that makes me think, and of course, disgusted about how the whole liberal-progressive mind works.
June 13, 2017
Perils of Privilege
I received this book as a free ARC from NetGalley. This will not prevent me from writing an honest review.
For several years now, it has been common for comments to online articles and blog posts to call out the author and/or subject to "check your privilege" or to be notified that "your privilege is showing." In response, many writers include a list of privilege-acknowledging disclaimers to preempt such reactions. The privilege framework plays out in higher education and politics as well. Phoebe Maltz Bovy contends that the call-outs and self-policing are counter-productive. Far from improving inequities, they help distract from addressing valid issues. While writers and thinkers are busy acknowledging that there exist people with fewer advantages than they have, the most advantaged people are continuing to enjoy all of the benefits that come with that status.
As Bovy suggests, when something that should be a basic right for everyone is framed as a privilege that not everyone can have, it's not productive to call out people who have that "privilege," as if it's something no one should have. Instead, the question would be how to ensure everyone's rights are defended.
Bovy is careful to point out that the book isn't a crank piece designed to ridicule people examining questions of privilege. Instead she suggests there have been over reaches; take a step back without a return to earlier obliviousness.
I think this book could serve as a useful tool for moving beyond what can be a stalemate, to start moving the conversations along when considering social inequities.
I received this book as a free ARC from NetGalley. This will not prevent me from writing an honest review.
For several years now, it has been common for comments to online articles and blog posts to call out the author and/or subject to "check your privilege" or to be notified that "your privilege is showing." In response, many writers include a list of privilege-acknowledging disclaimers to preempt such reactions. The privilege framework plays out in higher education and politics as well. Phoebe Maltz Bovy contends that the call-outs and self-policing are counter-productive. Far from improving inequities, they help distract from addressing valid issues. While writers and thinkers are busy acknowledging that there exist people with fewer advantages than they have, the most advantaged people are continuing to enjoy all of the benefits that come with that status.
As Bovy suggests, when something that should be a basic right for everyone is framed as a privilege that not everyone can have, it's not productive to call out people who have that "privilege," as if it's something no one should have. Instead, the question would be how to ensure everyone's rights are defended.
Bovy is careful to point out that the book isn't a crank piece designed to ridicule people examining questions of privilege. Instead she suggests there have been over reaches; take a step back without a return to earlier obliviousness.
I think this book could serve as a useful tool for moving beyond what can be a stalemate, to start moving the conversations along when considering social inequities.
December 20, 2021
This was interesting. Parts of it felt kind of disconnected--it worked for me because the author and I clearly have very similar types of internet brain poisoning--but it some ways it was like a long interrogation of various twitter discourse topics. But some parts, particularly how privilege dynamics have become weaponized by antifeminists and the way it fails to account for how antisemitism functions, were stellar.
April 18, 2017
I'll try to write a full review later, but this book got some complex reactions out of me. It could be two stars tomorrow, or five. I really don't know. A lot of interesting points and ideas that may not hold water.
July 17, 2017
There are points here I agree with, but this is dreadfully written and poorly argued. More thoughts later, but clue #1 should be that most sources she cites in the bibliography are hyperlinks; it feels like the entirety of her research was conducted by Googling. That's hardly a stretch, either - when she attempts to trace the history of "white privilege" and "checking your privilege," she references the famous Peggy McIntosh article, but then ends up in the depths of comments sections of articles from the last ten years, saying that was what her internet searches turned up. It leaves out a great deal of historical meaning and context and seems, frankly, pretty lazy. She argues herself in circles, and it often isn't clear what she's arguing for and who exactly is supposed to bear the responsibility for changing the discourse. The tired claim that "hypersensitivity" led to Donald Trump is especially grating.
March 20, 2020
There are parts of this book that are excellent and then there are parts that...are just thrown in from keyboard wars in comments sections on the internet (and, I mean that literally. No, for real). There are so many "examples" that end up being just random spats in comments sections on blog posts people write about privilege. Although at times the author can almost get away with this given the contexts she uses them in, it just gets kind of weird sometimes. Why *that* blog or comment or example?
Then, after a while, it just gets too redundant. I initially liked some of the ideas and questions she posed, but I suppose that in the end the book fell just as flat in enough places as a "YPIS" accusation does in most cases.
I agree with people below who have commented that this book would have been much better as a few essays. I was excited in the beginning, but it strated to drag reeeeeaaaalll early on in the book .
Then, after a while, it just gets too redundant. I initially liked some of the ideas and questions she posed, but I suppose that in the end the book fell just as flat in enough places as a "YPIS" accusation does in most cases.
I agree with people below who have commented that this book would have been much better as a few essays. I was excited in the beginning, but it strated to drag reeeeeaaaalll early on in the book .
October 3, 2018
This book is mostly, though not completely, a mess. If the idea of two different people understanding a framework two different ways makes you want to "scream" or "give up", I don't really know what to tell you. This book should have been, at most, an essay, and/or it should have focused on developing arguments instead of repeating the same point in different words for 300 pages.
"I can imagine that for people of color life in a white-majority context feels a bit like being on a bicycle in midst of traffic. They have the right to be on the road, and laws on the books to make it equitable, but that doesn't change the fact that they are on a bike in a world made for cars." I actually like this analogy, but the author doesn't >.<
"I can imagine that for people of color life in a white-majority context feels a bit like being on a bicycle in midst of traffic. They have the right to be on the road, and laws on the books to make it equitable, but that doesn't change the fact that they are on a bike in a world made for cars." I actually like this analogy, but the author doesn't >.<
April 21, 2017
I think that Kirkus Reviews said it best when they wrote, "Her scathing criticism, some of which stems from her writing on privilege for the Atlantic and the New Republic, is often on-point, but it is swamped by the detail in which she enfolds her arguments, which often get lost in the shuffle." That and the fact that she was writing with a Mary Roach approach to non-fiction. That's to say, trying to be funny and to throw in the occasional joke.
March 24, 2020
The few good points in this critique on the recently "trendy" concept of privilege unfortunately get lost in its rambling disorganization (the work reads as an almost stream-of-consciousness brain dump of all of the author's thoughts on privilege) and its incredibly obnoxious tone (the writing embodies so much of the qualities of the "I'm now aware of my own privilege" think pieces the author criticizes that I almost can't tell if this is supposed to be a parody).
May 16, 2018
I liked some of her examples. However, most of the book is written around examples that happened on the internet. If you are not familiar with the event, Phoebe's point does not make sense. I would not recommend this book.
July 19, 2018
Privilege is unearned advantages of which holders are generally oblivious. The verbal accusation to "Check your privilege" has become an effective tool to encourage awareness --or bully certain groups into feeling guilty--and recognize their unearned advantages. It does not necessarily or even often lead to action, however, as various reports have found. In the admission of privilege, there is an undercover admission of superiority. Not only it is ineffective as a tool to change the systems that perpetuate injustice, there is considerable evidence that it ratifies them and diverts attention from effective action by emphasizing that awareness is enough. (The same issue exists with any number of disease "awareness" campaigns.)
The author intends to share online conversations about privilege in order to suss out how people use the term (now generally lobbed as an allegation or indictment) originated by Peggy McIntosh in 1988 to increase compassion. She identifies the effects on academia, news and social media, cultural production and society in general. Thus, the sourcing for this book comes not from peer-reviewed articles from social science and economics, but rather from online essay/article/blog sites and popular media. The crowdsourced result is exhaustive but superficial. Does it really enhance my understanding of the privilege issue to hear what so many people on the street [Internet] may be saying? No, but the author intends this more as a snapshot of the term at this point in time. Unfortunately, I have literally read and heard almost all of the cited works before, just like most of my social circle who read the NY Times, The Atlantic, and other sources cited. There was nothing new here and the gathering of it all wasn't terribly helpful either; it affirmed rather than challenged my view.
The goal of "checking privilege" is that once aware, privilege holders will abdicate or step aside and make room for the less privileged. This is a patently absurd assumption and objective. Moreover, in schools, those not holding privilege are reminded of their status during these privilege checks, further alienating them, and ratifying the social status of those who do. This is a practice that divides people and leads nowhere productive.
Perhaps the strongest section of the book is the conclusion, where the author posits solutions, like focusing on more macro, less micro, "less socio, more economic" instead of "inaccurately categorizing huge swaths of humanity under the haves umbrella." She urges that we stop pointing out the celebrity/politician gaffe of the day and stop characterizing as violence things that aren't. "Understand that the haves want to remain in power and that their enlightenment is not, in fact, the road to justice...Everyone's oblivious to life beyond his or her own experiences and that's normal....We should be suspicious of the people who claim to have transcended such limitations, not condemnatory of those who've failed to do so. Awareness isn't a necessary first step, but a futile, and often dangerous, diversion." Finally, "Keep social justice as a means to an end...which needs to be recognizing the humanity of all."
The author intends to share online conversations about privilege in order to suss out how people use the term (now generally lobbed as an allegation or indictment) originated by Peggy McIntosh in 1988 to increase compassion. She identifies the effects on academia, news and social media, cultural production and society in general. Thus, the sourcing for this book comes not from peer-reviewed articles from social science and economics, but rather from online essay/article/blog sites and popular media. The crowdsourced result is exhaustive but superficial. Does it really enhance my understanding of the privilege issue to hear what so many people on the street [Internet] may be saying? No, but the author intends this more as a snapshot of the term at this point in time. Unfortunately, I have literally read and heard almost all of the cited works before, just like most of my social circle who read the NY Times, The Atlantic, and other sources cited. There was nothing new here and the gathering of it all wasn't terribly helpful either; it affirmed rather than challenged my view.
The goal of "checking privilege" is that once aware, privilege holders will abdicate or step aside and make room for the less privileged. This is a patently absurd assumption and objective. Moreover, in schools, those not holding privilege are reminded of their status during these privilege checks, further alienating them, and ratifying the social status of those who do. This is a practice that divides people and leads nowhere productive.
Perhaps the strongest section of the book is the conclusion, where the author posits solutions, like focusing on more macro, less micro, "less socio, more economic" instead of "inaccurately categorizing huge swaths of humanity under the haves umbrella." She urges that we stop pointing out the celebrity/politician gaffe of the day and stop characterizing as violence things that aren't. "Understand that the haves want to remain in power and that their enlightenment is not, in fact, the road to justice...Everyone's oblivious to life beyond his or her own experiences and that's normal....We should be suspicious of the people who claim to have transcended such limitations, not condemnatory of those who've failed to do so. Awareness isn't a necessary first step, but a futile, and often dangerous, diversion." Finally, "Keep social justice as a means to an end...which needs to be recognizing the humanity of all."
July 10, 2017
The Perils of Privilege is a deep study into the current culture's obsession with privilege, and more than that, the obsession over everyone deciding that when any argument arises, we must acknowledge our own privilege or out someone else's privileged stance to support or refute an argument.
This book does a good job as covering all aspects of what society now claims as being privileged, beyond economics and including privileges of race, gender, education, cultural status and more. But with any of these types of books, what happens is one problem is split into dozens of different angles, with no real proposed solution to tackling any of it. Most readers may not even know what side the author stands on until the very end, when she lists a number of possible ways to back off of the privilege pointing towards others and squash this new cultural norm, but I'm not sure a lot of readers will make it to this point in the book. The main reason? There are three major sources where the author quotes from to make points throughout the book: anonymous comments on online articles, random Twitter feeds and essays that, while coming from reputable publications, don't seem like anything that would be read by those without somewhat elevated levels of privilege in their lives. I think many readers will have a similar reaction to what I did—getting angry every few pages, while nodding in agreement while reading the next few.
The other aspect of this book is that it's existence is a privilege within itself, which may turn off some people from reading it. The author does a decent job of acknowledging the areas of her life which may be deemed 'privileged' and led her to the place she is now with a book all about privilege, but the idea that she had to acknowledge this is the first place negates some of her points in the book, especially the argument that so many face when writing memoirs or essays of immediately acknowledging how privileged they are (or had been during childhood) to explain to readers how well they understand or fail to understand the subject they chose to write about.
After reading this book, I'm still not sure what I think about the whole idea that this privilege shaming we all seem to give as good as we get is ever going to fade away. In fact, it's probably only going to get stronger because now the idea that you have privilege for others to shame is quickly becoming a status symbol in itself, whether you truly embody any type of privilege or not. It's a complicated topic and needs continued discussion.
*Book provided by NetGalley
This book does a good job as covering all aspects of what society now claims as being privileged, beyond economics and including privileges of race, gender, education, cultural status and more. But with any of these types of books, what happens is one problem is split into dozens of different angles, with no real proposed solution to tackling any of it. Most readers may not even know what side the author stands on until the very end, when she lists a number of possible ways to back off of the privilege pointing towards others and squash this new cultural norm, but I'm not sure a lot of readers will make it to this point in the book. The main reason? There are three major sources where the author quotes from to make points throughout the book: anonymous comments on online articles, random Twitter feeds and essays that, while coming from reputable publications, don't seem like anything that would be read by those without somewhat elevated levels of privilege in their lives. I think many readers will have a similar reaction to what I did—getting angry every few pages, while nodding in agreement while reading the next few.
The other aspect of this book is that it's existence is a privilege within itself, which may turn off some people from reading it. The author does a decent job of acknowledging the areas of her life which may be deemed 'privileged' and led her to the place she is now with a book all about privilege, but the idea that she had to acknowledge this is the first place negates some of her points in the book, especially the argument that so many face when writing memoirs or essays of immediately acknowledging how privileged they are (or had been during childhood) to explain to readers how well they understand or fail to understand the subject they chose to write about.
After reading this book, I'm still not sure what I think about the whole idea that this privilege shaming we all seem to give as good as we get is ever going to fade away. In fact, it's probably only going to get stronger because now the idea that you have privilege for others to shame is quickly becoming a status symbol in itself, whether you truly embody any type of privilege or not. It's a complicated topic and needs continued discussion.
*Book provided by NetGalley
January 29, 2018
On its face, this is dialogue etiquette about refraining from starting stupid fights on the Internet. Given that these Internet fights are often in response to ambiguously written first-person essays, this book also indirectly provides advice to writers. In brief: Write from your own experience and perhaps acknowledge that your experience may not be universal, but do not speculate on whether other specific categories of humans would ever find themselves in that situation, exactly what they would do if they were, or how they would feel about it, because your presumptions will be wrong and will annoy someone.
Another major contention of the book: In writing and in life, announcing one's privilege and encouraging others to announce theirs is not necessarily a hallmark of sensitivity and awareness but may rather tend to reinforce hierarchies and increase conscious interpersonal tension about these hierarchies, and prompting others to reveal their disadvantages (ostensibly so you can accord them some Little Orphan Annie moral status) may often just embarrass them because they may not want to admit the invisible features that make them different, they may think it's weird that you want to beatify them for it, and they know that your awareness of their struggle and your opinion of them is not likely to help them overcome that disadvantage. It's a much better goal, she says, to drop the obsession with self-awareness and calling out other's lack of awareness and instead to focus on how to improve the world (a point I developed in a LinkedIn article with reference to this book).
There is some equivocation about the term "privilege" itself, a word that appears 1508 times: sometimes it's used to mean simply having a material or social advantage, other times it means more specifically being unaware of said advantage, and occasionally it means outranking someone rhetorically while debating privilege (by revealing one's own disadvantage or one's awareness of unearned advantage) and thus increasing in moral status in others' eyes. The shorthand phrase "your privilege is showing" (acronym: "YPIS", used 149 times), representing an accusation of obliviousness to one's own privilege, is also used a little inconsistently. Sometimes the author talks about the problems of "YPIS" without making it clear whether this is on the giving or receiving end. These ambiguities are all figureoutable from context, but that requires the reader to think through the logic of many sentences to figure out which sense was most likely intended by the author, which makes the book (already over 300 pages and densely argued) a slow read if one is committed to understanding it properly.
But I found this worthwhile to put in the effort to read. It is witty and gave me new perspective.
Another major contention of the book: In writing and in life, announcing one's privilege and encouraging others to announce theirs is not necessarily a hallmark of sensitivity and awareness but may rather tend to reinforce hierarchies and increase conscious interpersonal tension about these hierarchies, and prompting others to reveal their disadvantages (ostensibly so you can accord them some Little Orphan Annie moral status) may often just embarrass them because they may not want to admit the invisible features that make them different, they may think it's weird that you want to beatify them for it, and they know that your awareness of their struggle and your opinion of them is not likely to help them overcome that disadvantage. It's a much better goal, she says, to drop the obsession with self-awareness and calling out other's lack of awareness and instead to focus on how to improve the world (a point I developed in a LinkedIn article with reference to this book).
There is some equivocation about the term "privilege" itself, a word that appears 1508 times: sometimes it's used to mean simply having a material or social advantage, other times it means more specifically being unaware of said advantage, and occasionally it means outranking someone rhetorically while debating privilege (by revealing one's own disadvantage or one's awareness of unearned advantage) and thus increasing in moral status in others' eyes. The shorthand phrase "your privilege is showing" (acronym: "YPIS", used 149 times), representing an accusation of obliviousness to one's own privilege, is also used a little inconsistently. Sometimes the author talks about the problems of "YPIS" without making it clear whether this is on the giving or receiving end. These ambiguities are all figureoutable from context, but that requires the reader to think through the logic of many sentences to figure out which sense was most likely intended by the author, which makes the book (already over 300 pages and densely argued) a slow read if one is committed to understanding it properly.
But I found this worthwhile to put in the effort to read. It is witty and gave me new perspective.
September 20, 2022
Does getting it mean getting that the world is an unfair place, or does it mean getting why oe must use "privilege" to convey this? Either way, the privilege-explainer social-media post is a genre in its own right, and is often designed to go viral.
Sebuah survey dari Pew Research* menunjukkan hampir setengah dari orang kulit putih di AS percaya bahwa mereka didiskriminasi —bukan hak istimewa— karena ras mereka. Ada suatu realita yang bernama rasisme struktural. Rasisme tersebut menunjukkan bahwa orang berkulit putih cenderung lebih cepat mendapat panggilan wawancara kerja dan mendapat upah lebih tinggi.
Saya teringat dengan negara Cina. Cina menjadi berbeda, di luar Euro-Amerika karena transformasi kulit putihnya menjadi identitas minoritas sebagai akibat dari migrasi internasional. Setelah membaca survey di atas, saya menyadari bahwa hak istimewa kulit putih terbagi menjadi dua, (1) dominasi struktural dalam masyarakat Barat, (2) modal rasial yang terkandung di Cina. Yang satu berbentuk kekuasaan, satunya kerentanan.
Buku ini mengupas tuntas bagaimana privilege memainkan peran dalam tatanan sosial masyarakat. Bovy membagi bukunya menjadi lima bab kemudian memecahnya lagi menjadi sub-sub bab. Menjadikannya lebih rinci dan menyasar kasus-kasus tertentu. Perihal bagaimana media memberitakan hak istimewa. Bagaimana cara mengkritik orang yang memiliki hak istimewa. Bagaimana kehidupan kampus memberikan keistimewaan pada orang-orang tertentu. Sayangnya, buku ini terasa kurang radikal bagi saya. Pengalaman membaca buku-buku sejenis saya berasal dari terbitan Pluto Press dan Verso Books. Ada banyak hal yang ingin dibedah dalam buku ini, hanya saja rasanya kurang berani dan tajam.
Hak istimewa (privilege) tidak akan pernah hilang sampai sistem di masyarakat kita mampu menghilangkan diskriminasi. Jika kita adalah orang yang mendapat keistimewaan tersebut, pergunakanlah kesempatan itu untuk memberi manfaat pada orang lain. Buatlah hak istimewa itu terlihat sembari tetap menyikapinya dengan kritis.
*Majorities of Americans see at least some discrimination against Black, Hispanic and Asian people in the U.S. - https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank...
November 22, 2021
'And for all that's said about overshare, about self-pitying online confessions, the dominant pressure on social media is to present the best version of oneself possible. This means sharing only the positive. An atmosphere where boasting is ubiquitous, and where hardships go unstated, makes everyone look a notch more privileged than they really are. This makes the you-have-it-all call-out that much more tempting, as well as much less likely to be justified.'
The Perils of Privilege by Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a non-fiction - more like heavily-opinionated - book on privilege; what it means, how society regards it, how the call-outs span across various spectrums including cultural, gender, political beliefs, education as well as the entertainment industry specifically in the United States. The writer, who majored in French, pens down her opinions and observations - based on other writers opinions and observations- sourced from online news/magazine articles and blogposts.
Reading the book is like going through a thesis, where almost each paragraph is traceable to one or more source. And since the book focuses solely on the demographics of the United States, which I realized I'm in no way an expertise about, made it much harder for me to comprehend and somewhat highly unrelatable to my own observations and experiences. The book is also basically opinions of various writers compiled into one, which can be extremely biased with clouded judgements based on ones own beliefs and preferences.
There are some points about privilege that I find agreeable and others that I find to be a waste of time to even ponder about, let alone write a lengthy argument about it. Maybe that has got to do with my belief system as a Muslim, that the world we live in is unjust, which explains why we believe in the Hereafter. If we really think about it in terms of sustenance by the Most Kind and Merciful, everyone is privileged; each in our own way if only we choose to focus on what we've been given rather than the opposite.
🌟 3/5. Can be intellectually entertaining and just as challenging.
The Perils of Privilege by Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a non-fiction - more like heavily-opinionated - book on privilege; what it means, how society regards it, how the call-outs span across various spectrums including cultural, gender, political beliefs, education as well as the entertainment industry specifically in the United States. The writer, who majored in French, pens down her opinions and observations - based on other writers opinions and observations- sourced from online news/magazine articles and blogposts.
Reading the book is like going through a thesis, where almost each paragraph is traceable to one or more source. And since the book focuses solely on the demographics of the United States, which I realized I'm in no way an expertise about, made it much harder for me to comprehend and somewhat highly unrelatable to my own observations and experiences. The book is also basically opinions of various writers compiled into one, which can be extremely biased with clouded judgements based on ones own beliefs and preferences.
There are some points about privilege that I find agreeable and others that I find to be a waste of time to even ponder about, let alone write a lengthy argument about it. Maybe that has got to do with my belief system as a Muslim, that the world we live in is unjust, which explains why we believe in the Hereafter. If we really think about it in terms of sustenance by the Most Kind and Merciful, everyone is privileged; each in our own way if only we choose to focus on what we've been given rather than the opposite.
🌟 3/5. Can be intellectually entertaining and just as challenging.
December 1, 2018
I will second what some reviews have said, namely that the thread of the argument, the narrative, is not always clear here (especially in the middle third or the 3rd quarter or so). The section on "Jewish privilege" and "Asian privilege" doesn't quite connect to the previous section on feminism's travails with privilege, so that the sections themselves seem to be... more lined up than actually a cohesive whole.
That said, I do get it, at the end. And it is a fairly strong indictment of "privilege" as pop-culture callout, strategy, framework, etc. while acknowledging the basic truth and e.g. academic usefulness of the concept.
It remains to be seen, as Ms. Bovy herself wonders, if "privilege" will remain as culturally powerful as it now is. I dunno. To an extent that may be generational, especially as online culture changes (generationally) so fast, which gives me hope that the concept will be moderated. But the concept does seem to have leaped all fences and is firmly a part of e.g. right-wing populism... well, all populism, but most dangerously right-wing populism. That scares me. We'll see.
Finally, stars... I want to give this 5, but it is a little too clunky in places. So five stars for the ideas, maybe 4 for the argument, minus a penalty for the clunkiness... so 4.
That said, I do get it, at the end. And it is a fairly strong indictment of "privilege" as pop-culture callout, strategy, framework, etc. while acknowledging the basic truth and e.g. academic usefulness of the concept.
It remains to be seen, as Ms. Bovy herself wonders, if "privilege" will remain as culturally powerful as it now is. I dunno. To an extent that may be generational, especially as online culture changes (generationally) so fast, which gives me hope that the concept will be moderated. But the concept does seem to have leaped all fences and is firmly a part of e.g. right-wing populism... well, all populism, but most dangerously right-wing populism. That scares me. We'll see.
Finally, stars... I want to give this 5, but it is a little too clunky in places. So five stars for the ideas, maybe 4 for the argument, minus a penalty for the clunkiness... so 4.
January 10, 2019
Eh. Not *not* great (to take a page from the author's playbook). What I'm getting at here is that the author's writing style was quite irritating to read. As some other reviewers noted, her storytelling skills (I know this is nonfiction, but still), were non-existent. She kind of just strung together a spate of blog posts/articles/books/videos and tried to form her arguments from there, but the "story" lacked a solid, coherent flow much of the time.
That being said, I particularly enjoyed her commentary on third-wave feminism, where American Jews fall into the "privilege" framework, Hillary vs. Bernie, and the college admissions process. But again, her writing was quite pretentious (caring to throw in a "I went to the best public school in New York City" and "I have a PhD from NYU" more than a few times).
I overall agreed with her mostly spot-on description of the counterproductive spiral the "privilege" framework has driven us down, particularly with respect to far-left ardent social justice "warriors" who have apparently stooped so low as to criticize the "white privilege" and wealth of a woman that died in a car crash (and to use coverage of the death to call for increased media coverage of less "privileged" groups), but also with respect to the far-right, who have capitalized on the SJW's absurdities to paint a narrative of white/male marginalization.
That being said, I particularly enjoyed her commentary on third-wave feminism, where American Jews fall into the "privilege" framework, Hillary vs. Bernie, and the college admissions process. But again, her writing was quite pretentious (caring to throw in a "I went to the best public school in New York City" and "I have a PhD from NYU" more than a few times).
I overall agreed with her mostly spot-on description of the counterproductive spiral the "privilege" framework has driven us down, particularly with respect to far-left ardent social justice "warriors" who have apparently stooped so low as to criticize the "white privilege" and wealth of a woman that died in a car crash (and to use coverage of the death to call for increased media coverage of less "privileged" groups), but also with respect to the far-right, who have capitalized on the SJW's absurdities to paint a narrative of white/male marginalization.
May 8, 2018
Phoebe Maltz Bovy's work is thought-provoking and an important examination of trends in the privilege rhetoric of today. While critical of its efficacy as a social justice tool, Bovy does not advocate throwing out the discussion of privilege in all circumstances. Some of her most insightful arguments relate to the importance of individual experiences when leveling accusations of privilege at people, the fact that privilege rhetoric often re-centers discussion around the experiences of those with privilege (perpetuating the absence of other experiences), and that a focus on those who are privileged often leads to pulling them down rather than ensuring that others share in those experiences (depending on what they are of course-nobody should be sharing in white supremacy but everyone should be sharing in the ability to have a mid-life crisis if they want).
Unfortunately, though this work is intriguing, it is poorly articulated. Too often the thread of the argument gets lost, too often Bovy alludes to something without describing what she is referencing, and too often basic grammar errors throw off the flow of the book. A bit more editing would have greatly improved this work, but regardless, I'm glad it was written and it offers an important perspective.
Unfortunately, though this work is intriguing, it is poorly articulated. Too often the thread of the argument gets lost, too often Bovy alludes to something without describing what she is referencing, and too often basic grammar errors throw off the flow of the book. A bit more editing would have greatly improved this work, but regardless, I'm glad it was written and it offers an important perspective.
July 12, 2018
This book is written for the type of people who were struggling between who to vote for was Sanders and Clinton and it's just assumed you are a SJW.
Being outside of that political philosophy I found this book interesting but confusing. I had to Google quite a bit and there were multiple references I did not understand (cisgender for example). So someone more well read in Left leaning literature and thought would be far more comfortable in this book.
Outside of that I found the book interesting though a but jumbled in its point making. I thought she made some interesting points and accurate criticism. The author and I would probably agree on little politically but that did not affect the strength I thought her work had.
From my perspective is her basic thesis is the Privledge argument has gone off the rails and is now no longer valid. It is used as a silencer or as a victimhood jealousy stance that no longer works. I think her best moments are her discussions about Hillary Clinton. Was she privileged or a victim.
But I came away from the book think the Priviledge argument is so convoluted it can eat itself. It doesn't stand up to much logically trials. Thus it can be used hypocritically and as a silencer of dissent views.
Being outside of that political philosophy I found this book interesting but confusing. I had to Google quite a bit and there were multiple references I did not understand (cisgender for example). So someone more well read in Left leaning literature and thought would be far more comfortable in this book.
Outside of that I found the book interesting though a but jumbled in its point making. I thought she made some interesting points and accurate criticism. The author and I would probably agree on little politically but that did not affect the strength I thought her work had.
From my perspective is her basic thesis is the Privledge argument has gone off the rails and is now no longer valid. It is used as a silencer or as a victimhood jealousy stance that no longer works. I think her best moments are her discussions about Hillary Clinton. Was she privileged or a victim.
But I came away from the book think the Priviledge argument is so convoluted it can eat itself. It doesn't stand up to much logically trials. Thus it can be used hypocritically and as a silencer of dissent views.
May 8, 2017
While I found the book a bit of a chore to get through at times (it's definitely NOT "pleasure reading"), the message it conveys is (in my opinion) important and well-argued. The overuse of the "privilege" argument and the ineffectiveness of such is something which can't just be ignored.
As Bovy says: '"Privilege” itself harms more than it helps. Its role as an aide in online bullying exceeds its utility as a theoretical framework. The underlying (and legitimate) point the YPIS-hurlers ostensibly cared about—injustices in media coverage—got damaged in the process.”'
She also offers her list of what could be done to move us forward in conversation, without the reflexive posturing YPIS presents. While - as she acknowledges - some of these suggestions are unlikely to be feasible, they do chart a potential path out of the current quagmire.
Glad I took the chance on reading this book, and would highly recommend to anybody interested in learning more about the history of the privilege framework, or how we move forward from here.
As Bovy says: '"Privilege” itself harms more than it helps. Its role as an aide in online bullying exceeds its utility as a theoretical framework. The underlying (and legitimate) point the YPIS-hurlers ostensibly cared about—injustices in media coverage—got damaged in the process.”'
She also offers her list of what could be done to move us forward in conversation, without the reflexive posturing YPIS presents. While - as she acknowledges - some of these suggestions are unlikely to be feasible, they do chart a potential path out of the current quagmire.
Glad I took the chance on reading this book, and would highly recommend to anybody interested in learning more about the history of the privilege framework, or how we move forward from here.
August 24, 2017
An interesting argument about privilege and whether or not the discussions around privilege are helpful or harmful. I thought the author made some good points about conversations being shut down or derailed because we've become so quick to call out and condemn any lack of acknowledgement of privilege or perceived insensitivity, but I'm also hesitant to suggest that we should collectively be less aware of societal advantages or disadvantages of certain groups. I think this could have just been a long-read article instead of an entire book because it did get rather repetitive, but it's worth a skim and gives a lot of food for thought.
January 13, 2019
An important book for anyone who feels like social discourse has devolved in the era of social media, but can't quite put their finger on why. Goes in to exhaustive depth about the unproductive ways arguments on the internet tend to go.
Honestly, my only critique is that it is, if anything, TOO well researched. Several of the chapters dragged on a little bit as Maltz Bovy trots out example after example. Certainly great work for a reference book, but it doesn't really make it the kind of book you want to sit down and just read for fun.
Honestly, my only critique is that it is, if anything, TOO well researched. Several of the chapters dragged on a little bit as Maltz Bovy trots out example after example. Certainly great work for a reference book, but it doesn't really make it the kind of book you want to sit down and just read for fun.
December 30, 2017
This book argues that, while certain groups in our society (such as white males) have many advantages, both big and small, it is not particularly helpful to focus on this "privilege" framework as a means to bring about a more just world.
While this is a position I agree with, I was disappointed in the book. The author's writing style is rambling and difficult to follow. In addition, the book spends too much time discussing interactions on social media and not enough time on the real world.
While this is a position I agree with, I was disappointed in the book. The author's writing style is rambling and difficult to follow. In addition, the book spends too much time discussing interactions on social media and not enough time on the real world.
February 14, 2019
Bovy breaks new ground in her energetic effort to chart the discourse on privilege that have run rampant on social media. Her dissection of the "your privilege is showing" wars raises important questions about how intellectual debate has accelerated and devolved in the age of non stop printed prattle that has become the hallmark of cultural politics. A wirthe read.
December 6, 2018
Started off strong, but quickly became redundant and exhausting to read. The author's actual argument seemed to get lost in an excessive amount of examples. This may have worked better as a long essay instead of an entire 274 page book.
July 7, 2017
Interesting topic but writing isn't great. Her arguments aren't alway clearly articulated.
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