Essay Example on Privilege and Social Advantages: My Personal Assessment

Question One

Many people in some cultures, including contemporary American society, some people benefit and prosper because of the social advantages, entitlement, and dominance assigned to them by the community. Some of these privileges are conferred upon these people based on simple things as birthrights or social issues like associating with the leading culture. From an assessment of my personal life, the statuses that I occupy that I may define as a privilege are two, religion, and sexual orientation. Within contemporary society, some religions are targeted and more frowned upon than the others. For example, in the United States, the most attacked religions are Islam, Judaism, and traditional beliefs. Over the year, Islam has been under fire due to the increased incidences of terror attacks, which put the believers of the religion at a crossroads. Despite the laws that promote sexual orientation and identity, our society is still not welcome to LGBT rights as others. Some of these LGBT individuals still hide their identity for fear of social shame, which demonstrates that those who identify as straight enjoy some social privileges than their counterparts. Since the law allowed LGBT rights, there has been a rise in incidences of hate crime against the community, an indication of the privilege enjoyed by one section of the society at the expense of the others.

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These social privileges are unearned and are as a result of institutionalized beliefs. For example, some people are more accommodative of straight people because that is the prevailing social norm. Some privileges have been institutionalized in the form of the social set up such families and religion. Even though some organizations may not openly admit that they turn down employees because of their religious background or sexual orientation, it is a common occurrence in most firms. A common example involves the airport checks where a non-Muslim may easily pass security checks while Muslims may be exposed to further searches to ascertain the security of their background. On the other hand, these privileges I enjoy may also work to my disadvantage when I go to places where majority are homosexuals or Muslims. There are some special advantages enjoyed by the minority in the community that is only preserved for them. For instance, going to a gay club while you are straight may attract an unnecessary attention as the people in these places may not accommodate you. The same applies among the Islamic culture which may not easily accommodate a Christian culture.

Both individual and structural processes play a huge role in promoting privilege and oppression of the minority culture. The socially dominant practice, like a belief in the teaching of Christianity, has been criticized for undermining the same-sex marriage promoted by the law. Teachings in some of these religions have negatively impacted the gains made in the fight against sexual orientation privileges since they promote the sacredness of family between a man and a woman. The family process is also another factor that promotes privilege among straight people at the expense of the LGBT community. From a younger age, children are taught to grow up and have functional families. Anyone who deviates from such social norms is frowned upon by society.

Another important point to note is how the structural roles impact religious hate. The increasing incidences of hate against some religions are due to institutionalized policies that target a particular religion. We have been accustomed to the institutions targeting specific people until it is now an invisible crutch for the dominant privileged people to see some acts as discriminating against others' rights. A non-Muslim American at the airport, for instance, may not view less tight security check on them as privilege. On the contrary, a white Muslim may criticize the additional security check.

Question Two

From these last chapters' reading, a common theme appears as articulated by Pease, Doane, Kendall, and Kivel in their respective contributions. Both the foreign and domestic policies and beliefs highlighted by these writers praise the supremacy of the white culture. As evident in the foreign policy of most western nations, the goal is to modernize the world through the policies that they hold close. For instance, the debate under Christian hegemony put the belief as superior to any other at the local and international level and try to advance this practice. The view of the west to other culture categorize people as sinners who need to change their way of life. The western culture is elitist and views other beliefs as an alien, who is the main reason it tries to dominate over the others.

When assessed against any culture, the western one emerges as the most influential one, which begs the question, is this true? The authors are right about cultural relativism exhibited by the west against other non-west practices. To some extent, I support the opinion by the authors regarding their view of western culture in light of the outsiders. Christian hegemony, boundary integrity, and western supremacy have been the defining factors in contemporary global politics, as highlighted by these writers. Therefore, the topic in these last chapters makes a lot of sense as far as foreign policy and the local laws are concerned.