Within a system of societal inequities, privilege consists of unearned advantages that are conferred on individuals based on membership or assumed membership in a dominant group. This article describes the relationship between privilege and oppression, dimensions of privilege, characteristics of privilege, costs of privilege, and resistance to awareness of privilege. Understanding of privilege can enhance counseling psychology practice, research, training, and professional organizations. The article concludes with recommendations for exploring privilege and a vision for systemic change.
BaconL. (2009, August). Reflections on fat acceptance: Lessons learned from privilege. Speech presented at the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance conference, Washington, DC.
6.
BaggishA. L.WeinerR. B.KanayamaG.HudsonJ. I.PicardM. H.HutterA. M.PopeH. G. (2010). Long-term anabolic-androgenic steroid use is associated with left ventricular dysfunction. Circulation: Heart Failure, 3, 472-476.
7.
BinghamR. P. (2000). 1999 Division 17 presidential address. Lessons learned at the half-century mark. The Counseling Psychologist, 28, 143-149.
8.
BlackL. L.StoneD. A.HutchinsonS. R.SuarezE. C. (2007). The development and validation of the social privilege measure. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 40, 16-32.
9.
BlumenfeldW. J. (Ed.). (1992). Homophobia: How we all pay the price. Boston, MA: Beacon.
ClairJ. A.BeattyJ. E.MacleanT. L. (2005). Out of sight but not out of mind: Managing invisible social identities in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 30, 78-95.
FryeM. (1983). The politics of reality: Essays in feminist theory. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press.
15.
GoodmanD. J. (2001). Promoting diversity and social justice: Educating people from privileged groups. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
16.
GrahamM. R.EvansP.DaviesB.BakerJ. S. (2008). AAS, growth hormone, and insulin abuse: Psychological and neuroendocrine effects. Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management, 4, 587-597.
17.
HaysD. G.ChangC. Y.DeckerS. L. (2007). Initial development and psychometric data for the privilege and oppression inventory. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 40, 66-79.
18.
HaysD. G.DeanJ. K.ChangC. Y. (2007). Addressing privilege and oppression in counselor training and practice: A qualitative analysis. Journal of Counseling and Development, 85, 317-324.
19.
JohnsonA. G. (2001). Privilege, power and difference. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
20.
KermanP. (2010). Orange is the new black. New York, NY: Spiegel & Grau.
21.
KivelP. (1996). Uprooting racism: How White people can work for racial justice. Philadelphia, PA: New Society.
22.
LapourA. S.HeppnerM. J. (2009). Social class privilege and adolescent women’s perceived career options. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56, 477-494.
23.
LiuW. M. (2011). Social class and classism in the helping professions: Research, theory, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
24.
McIntoshP. (1989). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace and Freedom, 49(4), 10-12.
25.
McNameeS. J.MillerR. K. (2009). The meritocracy myth. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
26.
PinteritsE. J.PoteatV. P.SpaniermanL. B. (2009). The White Privilege Attitudes Scale: Development and initial validation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56, 417-429.
27.
PonterottoJ. G. (2008). Theoretical and empirical advances in multicultural counseling and psychology. In BrownS. D.LentR. W. (Eds.), Handbook of counseling psychology (4th ed., pp. 121-140). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
28.
PonterottoJ. G.CasasJ. M.SuzukiL. A.AlexanderC. M. (2010). Handbook of multicultural counseling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
29.
SchlosserL. Z. (2003). Christian privilege: Breaking a sacred taboo. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 31, 44-51.
30.
SobleJ. R.SpaniermanL. B.LiaoH.-Y. (2011). Effects of a brief video intervention on White university students’ racial attitudes. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 58, 151-157.
SpaniermanL. B.HeppnerM. J. (2004). Psychosocial costs of racism to Whites scale (PCRW): Construction and initial validation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 249-262.
33.
SpaniermanL. B.PoteatV. P.WangY. F.OhE. (2008). Psychosocial costs of racism to White counselors: Predicting various dimensions of multicultural counseling competence. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55, 75-88.
ToddN. R.AbramsE. M. (2011). White dialectics: A new framework for theory, research, and practice with White students. The Counseling Psychologist, 39, 353-395.
40.
WattS. K. (2007). Difficult dialogues, privilege and social justice: uses of the privileged identity exploration (PIE) model in student affairs practice. College Student Affairs Journal, 26, 114–126.
