This brief book is a groundbreaking tool for students and non-students alike to examine systems of privilege and difference in our society. Written in an accessible, conversational style, Johnson links theory with engaging examples in ways that enable readers to see the underlying nature and consequences of privilege and their connection to it. This extraordinarily successful book has been used across the country, both inside and outside the classroom, to shed light on issues of power and privilege. Allan Johnson has worked on issues of social inequality since receiving his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1972. He has more than thirty years of teaching experience and is a frequent speaker on college and university campuses. Johnson has earned a reputation for writing that is exceptionally clear and explanations of complex ideas that are accessible to a broad audience.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Rodney King's Question We're In Trouble Chapter 2: Privilege, Oppression and Difference Difference Is Not the Problem Mapping Difference: Who Are We? The Social Construction of Difference What Is Privilege? Two Types of Privelege Privilege as Paradox Oppression: The Flip Side of Privilege Chapter 3: Capitalism, Class, and The Matrix of Domination How Capitalism Works Capitalism and Class Capitalism, Difference, and Privilege: Race and Gender The Matrix of Domination and the Paradox of Being Privileged and Unprivileged at the Same Time Chapter 4: Making Privilege Happen Avoidance, Exclusion, Rejection, and Worse Trouble for Whom? And That's Not All We Can't Heal Until the Wounding Stops Chapter 5: The Trouble with the Trouble Chapter 6: What It All Has to Do with Us Individualism: Or, the Myth that Everything Is Somebody's Fault Individuals, Systems, and Paths of Least Resistance What It Means to Be Involved in Privilege and Oppression Chapter 7: How Systems of Privilege Work Dominance Identified with Privilege Privilege at the Center The Isms The Isms and Us Chapter 8: Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance Deny and Minimize Blame the Victim Call It Something Else It's Better This Way It Doesn't Count If You Don't Mean It I'm One of the Good Ones Sick and Tired Getting Off the Hook by Getting On Chapter 9: What Can We Do? Myth#1: "It's Always Been This Way, and It Always Will Be" Myth #2: Gandhi's Paradox and The Myth of No Effect Stubborn Ounces: What Can We Do? Acknowledgements Notes Resources Index