Undoing Privilege

Unearned Advantage in a Divided World

Bob Pease

For every group that is oppressed, another group is privileged. In Undoing Privilege, Bob Pease argues that privilege, as the other side of oppression, has received insufficient attention in both critical theories and in the practices of social change. As a result, dominant groups have been allowed to reinforce their dominance.

Undoing Privilege explores the main sites of privilege, from Western dominance, class elitism, and white and patriarchal privilege to the less-examined sites of heterosexual and able-bodied privilege. Pease points out that while the vast majority of people may be oppressed on one level, many are also privileged on another. He also demonstrates how members of privileged groups can engage critically with their own dominant position, and explores the potential and limitations of them becoming allies against oppression and their own unearned privilege.
 

Contents

Part 1. Theoretical and Conceptual Foundations
1. Oppression, Privilege and Relations of Domination
2. The Matrix and Social Dynamics of Privilege
Part 2. Intersecting Sites of Privilege
3. Western Dominance and Colonialism
4. Political Economy and Class Elitism
5. Gender Order and the Patriarchal Dividend
6. Racial Formations and White Supremacy
7. Institutionalised Heterosexuality and Hetero-privilege
8. Ableist Relations and the Embodiment of Privilege
Part 3: Undoing Privilege
9. Challenging the Reproduction of Privilege from Within
 

About the Author

Bob Pease is Chair of Social Work in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University in Geelong, Australia. His most recent co-edited books are the International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities (2007), Migrant Men: Critical Studies of Masculinities and the Migration Experience (2009) and Critical Social Work: Theories and Practices for a Socially Just World (2nd edition 2009). He has been involved in profeminist masculinity politics for many years and actively engaged in campaigns to end men’s violence against women.