Drawing on radical teachings disseminated by progressive professors, many on the Left often invalidate perspectives of people who belong to various demographic groups (straight white men, in particular) because they possess varying degrees of “privilege.” In turn, conservatives have fought privilege theory outright, pushing back on the notion that a person’s sexuality, race, or gender necessarily dictates the value of their ideas.
But is privilege theory objectionable on the whole?
Writing in The Weekly Standard, David Marcus argues that conservatives should be open to accepting a more nuanced theory of privilege, one predicated on the acknowledgment that discrimination against minorities is an objective reality. This is a very worthwhile point. Marcus contends that Peggy McIntosh’s 1989 publication “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” popular in progressive circles and widely circulated on campuses, “absolutely describes an actual phenomenon.”
“White people do see themselves represented more often in our culture and history, and rarely are the only person who looks the way they do in rooms where power exists,” Marcus wrote. “There is real value in considering the fact that people might treat you with more respect and dignity based on your skin color. As a piece of diagnosis, privilege theory isn’t nearly as pernicious as conservatives tend to believe.”
To unpack their so-called knapsacks of privilege, McIntosh asks readers to consider whether a series of statements describe their experiences in society. I can’t help but agree with Marcus’ assessment that some of those statements are helpful, especially in the context of 1989. For instance, “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented” and “I can choose blemish cover or bandages in ‘flesh’ color and have them more or less match my skin.”
The latter may sound trivial, but it’s fair to imagine how a build-up of similar experiences might impact the lives of minorities. It’s also, for some reason, the statement from McIntosh’s article that always stuck with me as a young adult. No reasonable conservative would contend that racial discrimination doesn’t exist anymore today, so to some extent it seems we must concede white privilege is a real phenomenon, though we may disagree over both the degree of its impact and how it’s applied.
Indeed, Marcus rightfully asserts, “Where privilege theory has gone off the rails, however, is in its attempts to cure the problems it describes.”
Consider this video of progressive student activists at the University of Kansas (loudly) deploying blanket charges of “white privilege” to invalidate the political opinions of conservative Young Americans for Freedom students.
Those noxious uses of the concept, which are commonplace on college campuses, make it understandably difficult for conservatives to attribute any value to the theory. Why engage when your opinion is being viciously discredited based on the color of your skin? But as we search for a more effective way to engage with young people, it makes sense to start discussing whether a more nuanced understanding of white privilege might be helpful going forward.
