Invisibility of Social Privilege to Those Who Have It

Abstract

The U.S. faces deep social divides, with socially dominant and subordinate groups clashing in their views about how much privilege the former enjoys and hardship the latter endures. We suggest that these differences arise because privilege is invisible to those who have it. Compared to disadvantaged groups, socially dominant groups are hypocognitive of privilege, having only sparse cognitive representations of the concept. This deficit leads to poor cognitive performance when thinking about privilege and predicts group differences in privilege awareness and beliefs about the prevalence of discrimination. Across 8 studies, participants from advantaged groups showed cognitive signatures of hypocognition. Right-handers generated fewer handedness- related hassles than left-handers (Study 1). Men generated fewer instances of gender discrimination than women, recalled fewer previously presented items describing actions people take to defend themselves against violence, and showed poorer recall and recognition in memory of gender discrimination examples described in a TEDx talk (Studies 2a-2c). Whites generated fewer racial discrimination instances than Blacks and recalled fewer such instances from a presented list (Studies 3a-3b). Whites also generated fewer examples of racial discrimination than Asians and reacted more slowly when classifying examples as discriminatory behavior (Study 4). After watching a transgender woman describe her discrimination experience living as a woman, both men and women showed increased awareness of male privilege and gender discrimination (Study 5). Findings suggest that the invisibility of one’s privilege need not solely reflect identity-defensive motivations, but may also stem from cognitive deficits in conceptual knowledge about privilege and discrimination.

“Male privilege doesn’t lift the social status of all men in the same way”: Trans masculine individuals’ lived experiences of male privilege in the United States.

“…Feminist researcher Peggy McIntosh (1988) described privilege as an “invisible knapsack” that is often unseen by those who possess it. Research suggests that in a task where individuals listened to a transgender woman describe her experiences of discrimination, cisgender men, compared to cisgender women, noticed fewer instances of gender-related discrimination, remembered fewer specifics, and reacted less quickly when identifying the discriminatory experiences (Wu & Dunning, 2020). In the present study, a few White participants denied that male privilege existed.…”

An Exercise for Expanding Privilege Awareness Among Management Students and Faculty

“…These reactions are especially common among members of dominant groups who have not yet begun the process of understanding and detangling their privilege. Facilitators can prepare for these emotional responses (Spelman, 2010) by further educating themselves about common reactions to privilege awareness (e.g., Dottolo, 2019; Phillips & Lowery, 2020; Wu, 2021) as well as strategies for responding to “hot moments” in the classroom (University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, n.d. ).…”

“…Often, social issues gain the attention of the public when it is the privileged who agitate for social change (Scully et al, 2018). However, this is difficult because people with greater power are less able to critically reflect on their privilege (Wu, 2021) without growing defensive (Phillips & Lowery, 2020). To that point, management educators in the U.S., for example, are disproportionately White, male, economically secure, and able to access intergenerational/private wealth (Minefee et al, 2018).…”

“…To that point, management educators in the U.S., for example, are disproportionately White, male, economically secure, and able to access intergenerational/private wealth (Minefee et al, 2018). In our view, our privilege as business faculty precludes many of us from learning about our privilege and the experiences of people and communities to which we do not belong, a phenomenon that Phillips and Lowery (2020) describe as “motivated denial.” One key feature of holding privilege is a tendency and motivation to deny, disregard, and/or conceal one’s privilege (e.g., Phillips & Lowery, 2020; Wu, 2021); therefore, it requires intentional self-reflection to recognize one’s privilege. Thus, we need specific frameworks, such as reflexive pedagogical tools (Iszatt-White et al, 2017), to confront our own privilege and guide our students to do the same.…”

Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile: A Review of How Collectivistic Cultures Compete More Than Individualistic Cultures

“…Without a societally established framework for a concept, people tend not to form associations around that concept (Levy, 1973;Wu & Dunning, 2018a, 2018b. Nor can they readily recognize, identify, interpret, or remember instances and behaviors related to that concept (Wu & Dunning, 2019, 2020, 2021b. For example, the Chewong people may have difficulty perceiving the activity hunting as associated with the concept "competition" because no conceptual schema of "competition" is engrained in their culture in the first place.…”