white privilege

American  

[wahyt priv-uh-lij, priv-lij, hwahyt] / ˈwaɪt ˈprɪv ə lɪdʒ, ˈprɪv lɪdʒ, ˈʰwaɪt /

noun

1. the unearned and mostly unacknowledged societal advantage that members of the dominant white racial group have and members of nonwhite groups do not, separate from but compounding with wealth, income, class, education, and other demographic factors that form individual identities.

   One aspect of white privilege is never thinking about your race, because most things in society are designed with whiteness as the normal default.

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Etymology

Origin of white privilege

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Swann, as a Black man, was accustomed to negotiating a world of white privilege, which deepened the antipatriarchy acuity of his drag aesthetic.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2023

“Boys! Boys! Boys!” examines how gay male capitalist culture relates to their own white privilege and identity as dancers in Seattle’s struggling arts economy.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 7, 2022

This dialogue also tackles white privilege, but from a place of greater realism rather than scattershot satire.

From New York Times • Jul. 1, 2022

If anyone had "white privilege", it was surely me, a descendant of Caribbean slave owners.

From BBC • May 10, 2022

Tim Wise is an author, activist and leading expert on white privilege and racism.

From Salon • Apr. 9, 2022