Definition of White Privilege
(noun) The unearned benefits white people receive in Western countries simply by being part of the dominant group.
White Privilege Pronunciation
Syllabification: white priv·i·lege
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /wIEt prIv-lij/
- British English – /wIEt prIv-i-lij/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /waɪt ˈprɪvɪləʤ/
- British English – /waɪt ˈprɪvɪlɪʤ/
Usage Notes
- Plural: white privileges
- Also called white skin privilege.
Related Quotations
- “Defenders of affirmative action see it, first, as a sensible response to our nation’s racial and ethnic history, especially for African Americans, who suffered through two centuries of slavery and a century of segregation under Jim Crow laws. Throughout our history, they claim, being white gave people a big advantage. They see minority preference today as a step toward fair compensation for unfair majority preference in the past” (Macionis 2012:341).
- “Some bureaucracies perpetuate inequalities of race, class, and gender because this form of organizational structure creates a specific type of work or learning environment. This structure was typically created for middle- and upper-middle-class white men, who for many years were the predominant organizational participants” (Kendall 2011:194).
Related Videos
Additional Information
Related Terms
References
Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Macionis, John. 2012. Sociology. 14th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Works Consulted
Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard Francis Taylor. 2011. Sociology: The Essentials. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Brinkerhoff, David, Lynn White, Suzanne Ortega, and Rose Weitz. 2011. Essentials of Sociology. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Schaefer, Richard. 2013. Sociology: A Brief Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Cite the Definition of White Privilege
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “white privilege.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 29, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/white-privilege/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
white privilege. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/white-privilege/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “white privilege.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/white-privilege/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“white privilege.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/white-privilege/>.