SUSAN EICHENBERGER

SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT FOR STUDENTS

SOC/BWS 348 Voices Exercise (10 points)

Race and Ethnic Relations

Eichenberger

Learning Objective

This exercise is designed to help you step out of your own experience and perspective and try to imagine how someone other than yourself might react to and interpret Peggy McIntosh’s article, “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies.”  In addition, this exercise may help you to be more open to new ideas about white and male privilege and is an opportunity to demonstrate competency with class material.

Process

• Review McIntosh’s article, which was assigned for this week.
• Write brief responses to the “voices,” taking issue with them, agreeing, elaborating, or pointing out flaws in the reasoning.
• Break into your small groups and discuss.

Criteria

• Show evidence that you understood the different perspectives of the voices (even if you didn’t agree). For example, you could use some of the ideas we covered in the first week of class when we made a distinction between sympathy and empathy for people.
• Show evidence of and understanding of class lecture, text, and discussion in your responses to the voices.

Voices

• “Sexism and racism are things of the past.  I am tired of hearing women and minorities complain.”
• “I am a minority, and I have never experienced the discrimination that McIntosh talks about.  I am tired of being used as an example of a minority”
• “The things on McIntosh’s list of white and male privilege don’t really matter in the long run.  Who cares if someone can’t find a band-aid to match their skin!”
• “McIntosh’s article really hit home with me.  I am angry and uncomfortable about how I am limited in the world.”
• “White men are suffering from discrimination in the work place.  What about affirmative action and minorities getting our jobs?”