For information on how we process your data, read our Privacy Policy
Description
America has long prided itself on being a meritocracy in which people have access to the same opportunities and resources in their efforts to build rewarding and financially secure lives for themselves and their families.
However, the USA has historically been a nation in which some sectors of the population have enjoyed advantages over others by virtue of their favored race, ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, physical attributes, or socioeconomic background.
How impactful have those privileges been in shaping current cultural, political, educational, and economic environments in the USA? This book explores that question and many more, using an approach that studies the question of privilege from a variety of illuminating perspectives. The book's opening chapters summarize the social, political, and economic evolution of privilege in the USA and discuss flashpoints of controversy and debate. Additional chapters provide personal essays from scholars and historically disadvantaged Americans, a selection of informative primary sources, an annotated bibliography of sources for further study, and a glossary of terms.
Table of Contents
Sex and Gender
Queerness and Sexual Identity
Socioeconomic Status
(dis)Ability
Language
Religion
Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity
2. Problems, Controversies, and Solutions
Sex and Gender
Roe v. Wade/Dobbs
Anti-trans legislative agendas
Queerness and Sexual Identity
“Don't Say Gay” bill in Florida
Obergfell v. Hodges
Socioeconomic Status
Immigrants and modern farm practices
Healthcare and bankruptcy
(dis)Ability
Ableism and the COVID-19 pandemic
Mental health and police violence
#cripthevote
Language
Gender neutral language
The “pronoun” controversy
Religion
Islamophobia in the wake of 9/11 and today
Women in the clergy?
Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity
Nikole Hannah-Jones/1619 Project
BLM and the Summer of Racial Reckoning
Anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic
AP African Studies and the push for patriotic education
3. Perspectives
Upholding Privilege in U.S. Education Systems Elizabeth Davis
How White Parents can Resist White Supremacy at School Kerry Kretchmar and Jennifer L McCarthy Foubert
Privilege for All: Arguments from a So-called Privileged White Guy David Forbes
Hear Me Out… What Privilege Has “meeka” All Really Given Us Thus So Far? Syra Yang
Self-Identity and Oppressive Education: A Chinese Female International Student's Perspective Jialu Fan
Complicating the Majority-Minority Paradigm: Race, Class, and Intersectionality in the U.S. Christopher Hu
Chapter 4: Profiles
Sex and Gender
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Queerness and Sexual Identity
Matthew Sheppard
Socioeconomic Status
Lyndon B. Johnson
(dis)Ability
Autism Speaks
Language and Linguistic Origin
Kinney Kimmon Lau
Religion
American Civil Liberties Union-ACLU
Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People-NAACP
5. Data and Documents
Bill of Rights
Selected Constitutional Amendments
Declaration of Sentiments
"Ain't I a Woman?" Sojourner Truth
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Title IX
Lau v. Nichols (1974)
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
Chapter 6: Resources
a.Sensoy & DiAngelo (2017) Is everyone really equal?: An introduction to key concepts in social justice education
b.Kendi (2019) How to be anti-racist
c.Gay (2014) Bad Feminist
d.hooks (2014) Feminism is for everybody
e.Crenshaw (1991) on intersectionality https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
f.Wong (2020) Disability visibility
g.Brown (2019) The Pretty One
h.Kobabe (2020) Gender queer: A memoir
i.Bronski (2019) A queer history of the United States
j.Dunbar-Ortiz (2015) An indigenous peoples' history of the United States
k.Adams, et al (2018) Reading for diversity and social justice
Chapter 7: Chronology (1619-2023)
Glossary
Product details
| Published | Jan 08 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 320 |
| ISBN | 9798765116661 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 7 bw |
| Dimensions | 9 x 6 inches |
| Series | Contemporary World Issues |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Related Titles
