I am going to write about the aspects of a privilege system. I am going to discuss how the readings show that key cultural beliefs, the socialization process, and social institutions in the U.S create a privilege system based on gender.
The five aspects of privilege system are:.
First, the dominant group obtains an unearned share of valued resources (such as wealth, power, and status) by depriving, excluding, and demanding another group. Privilege systems are therefore based more on injustice than on fair play or merit-a point which most members of the privilege group either do not see or vehemently deny.
Second, since the dominant group's superior position (economically, politically, and culturally) comes at the expense of the subordinate group; members of the latter usually resent such unequal and demeaning relationships. Therefore, dominant groups must use a mix of coercion, pressure, and intimidation to sustain their unfair advantages. They use their vast personal and institutional power (which includes the armed power of military and police) to pressure everyone-members of dominant groups as well as subordinate groups-to accept the existing privilege system. For example, all members of a slave society-whites as well as slaves-were pressured to accept and support it.
Third, member of the dominant group shape the prevailing social outlook and institutional practices in several ways. They control the institutions that influence and cultural values, philosophy, morality and social theory that humans use to make sense of our lives (such as schools, religion, and the mass media). They also control the economy, the government, and the legal system (though this control is always incomplete). Their immense social power aids the dominant group's efforts to hide and legitimize the unjust nature of the privilege system. All privilege systems rely on misinformation.
Forth, a privilege system must condition all groups-dominant as well as subordinate-to either impose or accept its logic.
