Problem at iZing Privilege

8/6/2019 Problem at iZing Privilege

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PROBLEMATIZING PRIVILEGE Laughlin 1

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In this paper I will be reflecting upon the readings, conversations, and personal work I

engaged in throughout the semester toexplore the emotional and societal effects of class. Much

of my writing will be based around Madeline Levines (2008) work, The Price of Privilege,

but I will also be bringing in Oliver James (2007) book, Affluenza and bell hooks (2000) piece

entitled, Where We Stand.While I deeply agree with much of Levines writing, I also

attempted to explore it with a critical eye and open mind.I will write on the obscuring of class

and how that impacts the individual and perpetuates class inequality. Then, I will conclude with

observations made around the Prescott College community, reflections on conversations with

friends, and a bit about the personal work I have done in this course.

Madeline Levine has been a therapist for over twenty years, and in The Price of

Privilege, she writes extensively on the troubling rise of affluent youth appearing in her office

with severe and complicated issues and challenges. Often the youth are coming in with

substance abuse issues, eating disorders, severe depression, anxiety, self-injurious behavior,

suicidal tendencies, and feelings of emptiness and hopelessness, but these things are frequently

masked by academic perfection, athletic achievements, and the right crowd. What is baffling

to people across the psychology spectrum is that these are the kids that are supposed to have

everything. They are supposed to be okay because they are primarily white, have money,

education, a family, and a white picket fence. They have privilege. I would like to

problematize the use of the word privilege when used in place of the termclass, andwhen

referring to, higher classed bodies. The term privilege implies a solely positive advantage,

leaving no space to explore the detrimental effects produced by class position and class history.

It annihilates lived experience, invalidating emotions and perpetuating the vicious cycle of guilt

and shame for not being good enough or okay.Through the use of the term privilege, as


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opposed to the term class, the inequality inherent in the hierarchical structure of class is

reinforced by obscuring the nature of thisoppression as a class issue, presenting it instead as an

issue of privilege.

Levine sums up her perspective of the plight of these youth in writing, Not only are

many of these kids expected to perform at the highest levels, they are also expected to make it

look easy. Heavily dependent on their public success for a sense of self, many of these

youngsters have little in the way of authentic purpose in their lives, leaving a void where

conscience, generosity, and connection should be (Levine,2008,p.35). According to Levine,

what many of these youth are lacking is an internal structure. Without that structure, when one

fails to meet a perceived expectation or standard, there is nothing safe or solid for them to fall

back on. They are climbing a fragile ladder constructed outsideof themselves, its stability

dependent upon their success. The pressure to achieve begins early for many upper classed

youth, from Ivy League feeder schools to beauty pageants, dinner parties, ballet, volunteer work,

andFrench lessons. As I wrote in my Annotated Bibliography paper, When childhoods are

spent striving to meet others expectations, believing this is the way to gain love, approval, and

acceptance, how can belief in meritocracy be anything but expected? When our perceptions tell

us that we have to attain love, like it is something to be worked for, earned, and kept through

successful completion of tasks and a checklist, why would we be anything less than performance

oriented; competing to prove to others why we deserve their love and attention? If something as

basic as our need for love and support must be procured to be fulfilled, and love is equated to

achievements, why wouldnt we be drawn to tangible expressions of our status?

Obviously, this is deeplyenmeshed with capitalism and the American Dream. In

Affluenza, Oliver James (2007) utilizes Erich Fromms term Marketing Character to describe


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the state in which he finds much of humanity: experiencing themselves as a commodity, with

their value dependent on success, salability, the approval of others(James,2007,p.10).I will

argue that the problem Levine defines as the price of privilege transcends the bounds of class.

Imbedded in a belief in meritocracy, coupled with a society fixated on performance, we are

trapped in a system in which we have no choice but participate. Without awareness of this, we

are at the mercy of our class position and a capitalistically motivated culture.Inherent in this trap

is pecuniary emulation, the unending drive to make one equal to or greater than those they

perceive as better off. Pecuniary pertains to financial matters, but I think this idea of pecuniary

emulation goes beyond economic value, reaching far into the core of our culture of conspicuous

consumption. As bell hooks writes, Tragically, the well-off and the poor are united in a

capitalist culture by their shared obsession with consumption (hooks, 2000, p.46). Materialism

and conspicuous consumption are seductive forces. They perpetuate beliefs that we are our

achievements, our possessions, and our status. They sustain beliefs that other people are their

achievements, possessions, and status.They enforce class stratification, furthering inequality and

discrimination.They reiteratea negative perception of self and encourage greed and perception of

greed in society. They entice the poor with promises of equality with the rich if only they wear

this shirt, weigh this much, and work a little bit harder, all the while sending subtle reminders of

the poors worth-less status.

Without awareness, it is impossible to take the personal responsibility required to engage

in social change. We are kept distracted from inequality through things ranging from

prescription medication to war, clothing, movie stars,and trying to get ourselves and/or our kids

there. Who has time to fight class inequality when they are working two jobs so their kids can

eat, wear clothes, have a place to sleep at night, and maybe, just maybe, not have to worry quite


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so much for their own kids? Who wants to look at class inequality when its working for them?

Once again, power is concentrated in a way that keeps people where they are.

Prescott College is so interesting. Many of useat out of dumpsters, ride our self-built

bicycles, dress to tell the world we dont care about its silly materials, and look with disdain at

capitalism and the people we peg as major promoters of it. Yet, as we talked about in

Declassified, we put an incredible amount of value on cultural capital. Travel, knowledge,

language, theability to interact with deep theoretical work, and the ability to engage in social and

environmental justice are a few examples of ways in which ones worth is evaluated and status is

determined via cultural capital at PC. The obscuring of the reality of class stratification in our

culture keeps many people from recognizing experiences boosting cultural capital as benefits of

class position.At Prescott College, experiences that are directly related to benefits of class are

often normalized because many students share similar class positions. For students of a lower

class position,internalization of the structural inequality creating these gaps in cultural capital

can result in shame, guilt, and self-deprecation for not being good enough. As I have

frequently talked about throughout the semester, one of the most effective ways to keep

inequality and discrimination thriving is to keep people from experiencing diversity. It is much

easier to remain oblivious to inequality when the majority of people around a person hold

comparable amounts of power. I have been thinking a lot about the ways in which education

systems are set up to replicate class power hierarchies; how when someone of the wrong class

ends up in the wrong school, that person becomes alienated, once again, internalizing

structural discrepancies as intrinsic flaw.

One of the most blatant examples at Prescott College of class obscurity is orientation. If

a student comes to Prescott College during winter block, they are required to go on the three


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week wilderness orientation, unless they have an extenuating circumstance rendering them

unable. My specific circumstance was that I was unable to take three weeks off work, as I

couldnt be guaranteed job security and I would be losing about 115-120 hours of work. Also, I

had none of the gear required for three weeks in the wildness, didnt know anyone I could

borrow from, and couldnt afford to rent it. A couple different things happen when a student

doesnt do wilderness orientation: they are immediately alienated from a very large majority of

their fellow incoming students and from Prescott College in general (in the sense of school

tradition, unity, and pride), receiving a giant, You dont belong here! sticker the moment they

register for orientation. The other thing that happens is courses with any sort of field component

become much more difficult to access, as there are multiple hoops one must jump through. I

actually had to have Jack Herring sign off on my registration for the fall semester following

orientation because I was on restriction for having done community-based orientation, instead of

wildness. I am blocked from takingcourses with field components until I prove myself capable

in the wilderness. Obviously, this is not just a class issue. I am considering organizing around

this with other students oppressed, alienated, and discriminated against by our current orientation

structure, hopefully raising consciousness, creating change, and ripping a hole in the fluffy

blanket obscuring class at Prescott College.

As this past semester progressed, I was able to hear bits and pieces of several of my

peers class histories. Its so fascinating and frustrating to see and hear the ways in which class

position impacts view of self and society. We talk about our privilege a lot, but I have begun to

wonder if we can really know what that means if we arent in the position of the oppressed?

Whats infuriating is that I know I never would have begun moving beyond internalizing

structural inequality without access to the critical dialogue taking place at Prescott College. Why


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are there voiceless populations being represented by those who are knowingly and unknowingly

holding a share of power which is not theirs?I already know the answer; Im just angry I guess.

Its been so intriguing to analyze my own shifting relationship to the effects of class. Im pretty

fired up and pissed off, but also doing the personal work of accepting my class position, history,

and its effects. The drive to obscure class is such a powerful player in the formation of my

thoughts and beliefs, particularly about me, that I constantly question if Im just making things

up, that class isnt real, that I can get myself there. I am now typically able to recognize that as

structural inequality, but there are definitely still moments when I either cant see it as that, or I

just need to feel the pain of it for a bit, acknowledging that I am actually human and things

actually hurt sometimes.

I cannot say enough about how excited I am to organize and challenge class obscurity at

school. I am also super stoked to hold some sort of space for people to explore their personal

relationship to class. It was so obvious through every single conversation I had that people were

being deeply affected by their class position and history. I am scared to challenge the idea of

privilege at Prescott College, but I believe a deeper understanding of self is absolutely

essential for true and lasting social change. Its going to be beautiful.


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Resource List:

Levine, Madeline. The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are

Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids. Harper Paperbacks, 2008.

James, Oliver. Affluenza. Vermillion, 2007.

hooks, bell. Where we stand: class matters.Routledge, 2000.

Problem at iZing Privilege

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