White Privilege, Oppression, and Racial Identity Development: Implications for Supervision

Abstract

Although the U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse, the race of individuals entering the counseling profession remains predominantly White (S. P. Pack‐Brown, 1999). The authors define and explore the connection between White privilege and oppression and encourage the use of racial identity models to address these constructs with counselor trainees in supervision.

Public Sociology or Partisan Sociology? The Curious Case of Whiteness Studies

“…15 In the Post-Civil Rights era, whiteness manifests itself in the colorblind claims that race has declined in significance, racism is the fault of individuals, equality of opportunity has leveled the playing field, and affirmative action amounts to reverse discrimination. Certain epistemic, ideological, and pedagogical practices sustain these claims (Aveling 2004;Bacon 2007;Bailey and Zita 2007;Barajas and Ronnkvist 2007;Gillborn 2005;Hays and Chang 2003;Hubbard 2005;Hyland 2005;King 2005;Kusz 2001;Lewis 2004;Manglitz et al 2005;Marable 2002;McDonald 2005;McIntyre 1997a, b;Norton and Baker 2007;Pierce 2003;Schick 2000;Taylor 1995;Wiegman 1999). As the organizing principle in social life, whiteness is responsible for reproducing racism, creating the backlash against affirmative action, and undermining the possibilities for racial reconciliation (Abrams and Gibson 2007;Baez 2000;Christensen 1997;Denevi 2001Denevi , 2004Gillman 2007;Hartigan 1997;Jeffery 2005;Keating 1995;King 2005;Levine-Rasky 2000;Philipsen 2003).…”

“…They affirm their goodness by dissociating themselves from their racist families or friends. In the classroom, other students impede "authentic" discussions of whiteness and its associated privileges by refusing to recognize the right of nonwhites to speak (Denevi 2004;Diangelo 2006;Gillespie et al 2002;Green 2003;Griffin 1998;Haddad and Lieberman 2002;Hays and Chang 2003;Hunter and Nettles 1999;Hytten and Warren 2003;Kiselica 1999;Leonardo 2004;Samuels et al 2003). Through the use of counter-claims that devalue alternative epistemologies, they reassert the dominant discourse and reproduce the myths that sustain the status quo.…”

“…Whiteness studies appropriated the postmodern critique of Western epistemologythat is, whiteness constitutes a pseudo-universal category that hides its racial project behind various guises (Baez 2000;Blanchett 2006;Bowers 1996;Christian 2002;Gillman 2007;Green and Sonn 2006;Hays and Chang 2003;Johnson et al 2000;Keating 1995;Lynn and Parker 2006;Marable 2002;Perry 2001;Reitman 2006;Scheurich and Young 1997;Sleeter 1993). This project imposed a Eurocentric version of the world upon nonwhites-especially the precepts, assumptions, and values of the Enlightenment.…”

“…Whiteness embodies the essential qualities of the superior: luxury, power, authority, normalcy, legitimacy, purity, beauty, refinement, innocence, forgetfulness, erasure, and denial. These qualities are bestowed through various practices that go largely unrecognized (Ansell 2006;Aveling 2004;Bahk and Jandt 2004;Bailey and Zita 2007;Barnett 2000;Castagno 2006;Christensen 1997;Chubbuck 2004;Cross 2005;D'Andrea 1999;Denevi 2001Denevi , 2004Diangelo 2006;Emerson and Smith 2000;Feagin and Cobas 2008;Flagg 1993;Fusco 2005;Gallagher 2003Gallagher , 2007Gallaher 2002;Garner 2006;Gillborn 2005;Gillespie 2003;Gordon 2005;Green andSonn 2005, 2006;Griffin 1998;Grillo and Wildman 1991;Grimes 2002;Gustafson 2007;Hatchell 2004;Hays and Chang 2003;Himmelstein 2000;Hyland 2005;Jay 2005;Jeffery 2005;Johnson et al 2000;Jugé and Perez 2006;King 2005;Kruks 2005;Kusz 2001;Leonardo 2004;…”

Pre-Service Foreign Language Teachers’ Awareness of White Privilege

“…In this way, the opinions, standards, and expectations for North American society are often defined and maintained by whites through white privilege. As a social construct, white privilege becomes an ideology and is inherently hierarchical (Hays & Chang, 2003). Even though whiteness may not be overtly seen by white people, it is an inherent and normalized part of our society (Picower, 2009).…”