Good question: It’s complicated and controversial.

The National Association of School Psychologists defines privilege as “one group [having] something of value that is denied to others simply because of group membership and not based on what a person or group has done or failed to do.”

Privilege is a controversial topic. In recent months, multiple states have passed bills banning the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) — which holds that “racism is inherent in the law and legal institutions of the United States,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica — in public schools, a teacher in Tennessee was recently fired for discussing white privilege in his classroom without providing opposing points of view.

Those who defend use of the term privilege argue that, by discussing ways in which certain groups are treated differently, we can work towards a more equitable society.

But, hearing that your life isn’t as difficult as someone else’s because of this thing you weren’t even aware of can be a jarring statement on the best of days, and feel like a direct personal attack on the worst.

People rarely have control over the privilege they receive. Our lives aren’t made instantly easier, a massive weight isn’t lifted from our shoulders and our struggles are no less valid because we may benefit from certain aspects of society.

What constitutes privilege varies widely from place to place. A practicing Christian may not feel very isolated living in a predominantly Christian community, but drop them in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan where Christians make up less than 2% of the population and that’s likely to change.

And there are many different kinds of privilege, all of which intersect in different ways. For example, I am a white woman. I wouldn’t have the exact same experiences as a white man, just as I wouldn’t have the same experiences as a woman who wasn’t white.

I benefit from certain categories of privilege because of my race, but that doesn’t mean my life is without challenges or suffering. 45 of the 46 presidents of the United States have been the same race as me, but none have been my gender. My membership in certain groups — and not things I have done — both limits and expands my experiences and opportunities.

Determining what is and isn’t privilege, and where this privilege comes from, has raised hackles across the board. More than anything else, this conflict has developed from a misunderstanding of the complex definition of privilege. It’s anything but a one-dimensional issue, and that can be difficult to grasp.

Some may argue that discussing privilege does more harm than good. They say that — by bringing attention to inequalities — they
are only being amplified instead of properly addressed. But, if we approach conversations about privilege — even if we don’t like the term — with an open mind and willingness to be uncomfortable, we can better understand others’ experiences.

That’s what this section is about.

It’s difficult to decide on a few aspects of privilege to discuss, and there are bound to be things that don’t readily assign themselves to a specific category. With that being said, there are a select few dimensions of privilege that we’ve made the decision to highlight in the pages that follow: race, religion, sexuality and economic status.

In no way do those four encompass the entirety of privilege as a concept, but they all are deserving of conversation in their own right.

Religious privilege can have a multitude of different definitions depending on who you ask, but being part of the religious
majority in a community can have advantages, as we see in “Prayers and privilege.”

Racial privilege is determined by the way someone identifies themselves and is perceived by the people surrounding them. Personal biases — whether conscious or not — can change the way someone is treated based on their race, as we see in “Shades of privilege.”

Gender privilege can greatly impact the ease with which someone navigates life. Being denied things of value — like marriage rights or familial acceptance — due to membership in a minority group presents a host of challenges, as “Out of place” shows.

Economic privilege determines everything from the clothes someone wears to the amount of debt they’re expected to take on, as we see in “Tipping the scales.”

Like it or not, conversations about privilege are at the center of everything we do, today more than ever.