Privilege Revealed
Stephanie M. Wildman
An in-depth examination of the different forms of privilege perpetuating inequality within American society
In this era of #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, inequality is at the forefront of American thought like never before. Yet many of the systems of privilege upholding the status quo remain unchanged. Many Americans who advocate a merit-based, race-free worldview do not acknowledge the systems of privilege which benefit them. Men remain at the top of the gender wage gap and white people are five times less likely to be stopped by police than their Black neighbors. White families can build lives using social and financial inheritances that have been denied to Black Americans and immigrants for centuries.
Individual chapters focus on language, the workplace, the implications of comparing racism and sexism, race-based housing privilege, the dream of diversity and the cycle of exclusion, the rule of law and invisible systems of privilege, and the power of law to transform society.
Twenty-five years since its first publication, Privilege Revealed is more relevant than ever. With a new preface and substantive foreword, this book offers readers important insight into the inequalities still pervading American society and encourages us all to confront our own relationship to these too often invisible privileges.
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About Stephanie M. Wildman
Reviews for Privilege Revealed
Sylvia A. Law, Professor Emerita NYU Law School
"Unlocks a critical piece of the puzzle that activists and scholars have called ‘subordination.’ It reveals the complex interaction of systems of privilege. Yet the analysis is compelling, personal, and completely accessible. By breaking the silence about our unwritten rules, Privilege Revealed demonstrates how to reject privilege and embrace inclusion in a way that lights our passage toward the end of the tunnel."
Lisa C. Ikemoto, U.C. Davis School of Law
"Speaks with powerful understanding and empathy about privilege and subordination. In these times of backlash, when our politicians speak only in words that divide us, Privilege Revealed gives us a language to help us discover our common cause in the struggle against oppression."
Charles R. Lawrence III, Professor Emeritus Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai'i, Manoa
"A remarkably readable and persuasive account of how problematic the status quo actually is … This book can and should be read by an audience far beyond the usual readers of books about law."
Aviam Soifer, University of Hawai‘i Richardson School of Law
"Privilege Revealed, by Stephanie M. Wildman, displays a new way of thinking about the continuing problem of racial subordination in this country … This book explores the use of a new vocabulary about privilege. Thus, Privilege Revealed is an important contribution to the effort to rethink how the U.S. describes the role of race."
Cleveland State Law Review
"The book's major achievement is to make visible the many ways in which people with certain identities benefit from their privileged positions."
Peace Review