A Critique of Peggy McIntosh Article
Peggy McIntosh in his article White Privilege, Color, and Crime: A Personal Account narrates his personal experiences in the United States of America based on white privilege, color, and crime. She explores the issue of unearned privileges of white people because of their color with regards to issues of crime in the United States. That the Whites have the privileges given to them by the society while other people such as Euro-Americans and African-Americans are under pressure from the same society to be unmindful and unconscious of those privileges. She argues that this is very oblivion or unawareness flowing from the unearned privileges is what makes other persons of different color to feel oppressed. She demonstrated the white privilege by comparing herself to an African-American female colleague by subjecting themselves through the same procedures. McIntosh listed 46 ways in which white privilege occurs in regards to race, class, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and region among others (Peggy, 1996).
The Peggy successfully demonstrates that the white privilege based on race and colors have greatly culminated in discrimination or racial prejudices when it comes to crime. She gives examples of various research findings that show that few Whites undergo prosecution or incarceration for engaging to criminal offences when compared to Blacks and Euro-Americans. She shows that the majority of individuals consider their racial and cultural diversities. She uses the Asian Americans who have perfected the art of negotiating their race and ethnic diversities in a distinct way from white and black students to prove her claims. She also alludes to the inability of the law to ensure private security to individuals, especially if they are originating from minority groups manufactured national hysteria over racial violence. White privilege has become a disease of the Americans associated with endless moral panics over minorities, poor people, immigrants, and dangerous races (Peggy, 1996).
The arguments advanced by Peggy McIntosh does not show a clear nexus between the manner in which individuals are treated in the society and the issues of white privilege and color. Although, she previously gained preference at explaining the achievement gap that was experienced between whites and black the evidence is not conclusive. There are several instances when criminal probity or general individual treatment can be attributed to neither acting white nor black. McIntosh did delve on the difference between white privilege and stereotypes which are inevitable in the contemporary society (Peggy, 1996). This is because the general public does not have all the information about an individual. Stereotypes are essential as rough guides that sometimes points to the right direction or characters of certain individuals.
Besides the color, there are additional social forces, for example, stereotypes, peer networks and class that play a crucial role in examining criminal activities among Whites and Blacks. It shows that, in the examination of crime rates, culture and race should be given consideration and other social factors, as well. This is because they help in defining cultural discourses that are a crucial variable in explaining the rates of crime among Blacks and Whites. Peggy McIntosh does not take into consideration the complexities of racial identities. She explains how individuals adapt to different sociological and societal contexts which later influence their treatment within the society. The rates of crime among the youth relates to their understanding of crime from their peers, consequences of engaging in crime and racial composure of their surrounding or neighborhoods.
References
Peggy, M. (1996). White Privilege, Color, and Crime: A Personal Account. Wellesley College Center for Research on Women , 207-216.
