PPD Chapter 2

In every group in society there is privilege and oppression. Johnson explains that two of the biggest problems with privilege and oppression are power and privilege and our lack of ability to talk about those issues because of discomfort in being associated with a group. People view difference as a means of separation and grouping. Differences only describe one trait about an individual, not the individual as a whole. Privilege and oppression are directly related and you can’t have one without the other. Johnson also talks about privilege as a paradox, which is when individuals get privileges based on the way others perceive them and by being placed in a privileged group.


My argument with Johnson for this chapter would be on what the biggest problems are. I would have to say I believe the biggest problem is that certain groups having a feeling of being better than other groups and if we could eliminate the feeling of superiority then power, privilege, and oppression wouldn’t be such a problem. This seems to be a difficult mindset to get some individuals out of but as a nation if we teach our children everyone is the same and should be treated the same no exceptions then eventually it will be a more universal belief.

When reading this chapter I really came to realize how right it was about privilege not being able to make one happy. You could join every privilege group humanly possible and as much as you believe it will make you happy, it still won’t. I think people try way too hard to be parts of groups they believe to be privileged only to realize they aren’t and happier than they were before. So many different factors contribute to one’s happiness there is no way that just having privileges over others can fully satisfy all one’s needs in order to be happy. I also find it pretty sad individuals actually still believe in this day and age that they have superiority over certain others just because of one characteristic. It makes me realize how lucky I was to be raised believing that just because someone is different than myself that makes them no less of a human than my family and me. If all families could raise their children to accept everyone’s differences we could definitely improve privilege and oppression.