Book Review: Undoing privilege: Unearned advantage and systemic injustice in an unequal world

In the second edition of Undoing privilege (2022), the author, Bob Pease, critically reflects on his first edition by changing the subtitle, adding four new chapters, and expanding concepts that he had introduced into his first edition of the book. Additionally, in this second edition, he highlights contemporary forces and movements, including COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, climate change, and his own increased understanding of unearned privilege that has evolved since he wrote the 2010 edition. In this etymological exploration of theories on unearned privilege, Pease states that his book is intended for people who hold privileged identities and “are open to exploring the impact of this privilege on people's lives” (p. x). Yet, the average reader may get lost in his rhetoric and academic jargon. Therefore, those interested in this book should likely come prepared with a foundational understanding of concepts of privilege if they want to engage fully with Pease's critical dissection of topics and identities. Throughout the book, chapters follow a similar structure wherein Pease explores the origins of theory, offers a critique of theories, discusses the implications of theories, identifies newer conceptualizations of theory, and then provides a critique of new positions in an attempt to remove dichotomous frameworks in the application of theory.

Pease uses critical scholarship as not only an orientation, but also as a critique of critical scholarship itself. His examination of critical scholarship demonstrates the inconsistencies in critical narratives among privileged groups and pushes the reader to explore theory beyond a static framework or praxis. The author structures the book in three parts: Part I examines theoretical and conceptual foundations; Part II investigates sites of privilege that intersect; and Part III focuses on the complex processes of undoing privilege. These three sections offer a scaffolding of understanding identities (race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.), without over-simplifying intersectional identities into a one-dimensional comprehension of social location. Thus, Pease underscores his intentions of expanding conceptualizations of intersectional identity throughout the book, an intellectual activity that provides a detailed and unique approach to complex and evolving topics of privilege and power. In one example, Pease identifies subaltern studies as a postcolonial framework for studying elitism and points out that such frameworks have been generated by non-Western and non-Northern studies. Here, Pease highlights the infrastructure that scholars and activists in the global East and South have been enacting for the purpose of “studying up.”

Pease identifies the book's global and political contexts, which involve contemporaneous emergency states that impact the lives of all people in some way. Accordingly, Part I of the book lays the foundation for understanding and justifying the title of the book. Pease offers a critique of the practice of “studying down” and of scholars’ and activists’ focus on oppression and marginalization rather than on the reproduction of domination and exploitation. His analysis of the invisibility of privilege is comprehensive in part because he shares examples of everyday domination that are normative and pervasive practices that cross social and cultural bounds.

In Part II, Pease expands on his first edition by adding chapters that examine anthropocentrism, gender binary and cis privilege, religious privilege, and generational order and adult-centrism. While Pease added new content, he also expanded some of the first edition chapters to include the feedback he received, highlighting the work of other critical scholars, and exploring contemporary events and happenings. He investigates the uncovering of new dimensions of privilege by analyzing concepts and activities that are rooted in notions of human supremacy and earth domination, the assumption of cis identities, the institutionalized prioritization of Christian ideologies, and the developmental experiences of oppression throughout the lifespan. This second section is dense and may require several readings of the content. However, Pease aids the reader in conceptualization through autobiographical comments, followed by a genealogical review of theory and the examination of what he calls “maintained” privilege.

Part III is a helpful summary of the multifaceted material covered in Parts I and II. Pease grabs the reader's attention in the first two paragraphs of this section by stating, “nevertheless, there are sufficient similarities across the domains of privilege to warrant an outline of common strategies and processes for challenging privilege” (p. 225). He conceptualizes the strategies of challenging privilege on personal, cultural, and structural levels and then expands on a praxis of the application of undoing whiteness. Yet, as Pease examines the actions of developing traitorous identities, the reader is forced to examine their capacity to continuously shift their orientation while simultaneously being held captive by the forces of domination. Pease notes, “…there comes a point of no return for those who commit themselves to be in solidarity with oppressed people” (p. 240). However, the attentive reader would do well to criticize this statement, noting that intersectional framings of solidarity change over time and place and possess identities of power and domination unto themselves.

Overall, the second edition of Undoing privilege explores important and necessary social identities, locations, and experiences of domination, power, and control. Pease utilizes relevant and up-to-date literature, credits activists and scholars for their ideas and voices, and utilizes critical reflexivity to position himself throughout the book in a way that is transparent to the reader. The density of the material makes the book inaccessible to most people. Thus the text itself is self-selecting and positioned to appeal to an already white, elite, Eurocentric, and Western audience. While the analysis of the content is significant in its breadth, a critical reader must do the heavy lifting of making it digestible and functional while living within social structures that work to maintain privilege rather than undo it. Critical scholars can use this text to trace the genealogy of theory related to domination and privilege and use the book as a roadmap in exploring necessary revisions in an ever-changing world.