While reading Chapters 1-3 from Alan Johnson’s Privilege, Power and Difference, I made some talking points, observations, highlighted quotes and questions, while making some connections to previous readings.
❗Talking Points:
“We might not realize how routinely we form such impressions until we run into someone who doesn’t fit neatly into one of our categories.” (P. 20) The illusion connected to difference stood out to me on p. 16, of people being naturally afraid of what they don't know or understand. Which leads to fearing and distrusting people who aren’t like me and in spite of any good intentions, it is impossible to get along with them. However, the author confirms it as a myth. I’m curious if this is true to some extent whether it is subconsciously or not.
“To be white in America means not having to think about it.” (P. 25) The author defined privilege as “one of those loaded words that we claim so that we can use it to name and illuminate the truth”. It seems that the author’s central point here is how easy it is for people to dismiss privilege and claim that they do not feel privilege so they must not be privileged. However, the act of not being aware of privilege is privilege itself.
After filling in the Diversity Wheel myself, I recognized how altered my own life would be by changing one part of my identity. For example, changing my gender would completely shift how I navigate careers and passions. It truly drove home Johnson’s point how these categories can shape our own lives even when we don't notice (privilege). I attached the diversity wheel if anyone else would like to go about it.
The term paradox occurs on p. 35, which indicates a sentiment that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true. Privilege as Paradox: Rather than people, categories are what hold privilege. If you take away the category then you may lose or gain privilege. It matters who people THINK you are.
⭐Argument Statement:
The author Alan Johnson argues that to change how we think, we can change how we act which leads to changing how we participate in the world or become part of the complex dynamic through which the world itself will change.
🌎Connections:
Throughout this reading, the author discusses race, gender, and social class. Something I wonder if he could have discussed was language. Considering how often linguistic profiling occurs, and how speaking less English than the average American makes people look at you in a completely different light. Or if you have an accent that is “not typical”. If you are unaware, linguistic profiling occurs when a listener makes judgments about a speaker's social characteristics (such as race or social class) based on their accent, dialect, or other speech patterns. This is connected to a graduate course I took last summer about teaching English as a second language. If you are interested to learn more, I attached an article and a video on Linguistic profiling.
Video: Link
Linguistic profiling: The sound of your voice may determine if you get that apartment or not: Linguistic Profiling
THe linguistic profiling issue is key!! I love this point.
ReplyDeleteYour connection to language and linguistic profiling was so insightful. I enjoyed watching the as well.
ReplyDeleteGiana, I really appreciated how reflective and questioning your takeaways were. Your engagement with Privilege, Power, and Difference feels very honest, especially where you sit with uncertainty rather than rushing to a clean conclusion.
ReplyDeleteYour question about whether fear of difference operates subconsciously really stood out to me. I think Johnson is getting at that tension exactly. The myth he names is not that people never feel discomfort around difference, but that the discomfort is natural or inevitable. By naming it as socially learned, he opens the door for it to be unlearned, which is where responsibility comes in.
Your reflection on the quote “To be white in America means not having to think about it” was especially strong. You articulated the paradox well. Not feeling privileged does not mean privilege is absent. It often means it is working smoothly. That framing helps explain why conversations about privilege feel so threatening to some people. Awareness itself disrupts comfort.
I also loved your use of the Diversity Wheel as a personal exercise rather than just a concept. Naming how a single shift in identity could change how you move through careers and passions made Johnson’s argument feel concrete and lived, not theoretical.
Your connection to linguistic profiling was an excellent extension of the text. Language, accent, and perceived fluency absolutely function as categories that trigger assumptions about intelligence, class, and belonging. Even when race is not visually present, it shows how power and privilege still operate through what people think they hear. That addition deepened the conversation in a meaningful way and connected well to your background in ESL.
Overall, this post does a great job showing that Johnson’s work is less about labeling people and more about noticing systems. Your curiosity and willingness to interrogate what feels uncomfortable really reflects the kind of thinking the reading is asking for.