chapter 8 johnson

Chapter 8 of Johnson’s book, Privilege, Power, and Difference mainly discusses why a privileged group refuses to change. He says they refuse to change because they deny the fact that there is something to change. Either they feel that they are not taking advantage of power or that there is no difference between groups in a society. This leaves the struggle for power to the powerless groups, which would be difficult to master since they have little power. This power struggle is currently unbreakable because very few people step up offer a solution that can possibly be taken into effect. These people make excuses to why they haven’t done anything to solve the problem of power struggles. In this chapter, Johnson lists several of these common excuses or ways of denying that there exists a difference. People of power often blame the victim. An example of this would be if a white man says that black men don’t get the same job he got is because they didn’t try hard enough. Another way people of power deny the inequalities is by calling the situation something else. He provides the example of the power struggle between men and women a “battle of the sexes.” A third excuse listed in this chapter is that it is better this way. He says that people prefer a power pyramid. The fourth excuse people use is that it doesn’t count if you don’t mean it, referring to diminishing comments. That leaves the final excuse mentioned as “I’m one of the good ones,” which is another way people take themselves off the hook of being abusive of the power given to the group they are included in.
I chose to post on this chapter because I felt that it was important to discuss the common excuses of people in power. This is important to me because I tend to make excuses such as saying, “I have a gay friend,” or, “I would pick a girl for my intramural team, but I couldn’t find one that wanted to play.” I also make excuses such asking my black friend if he wants to eat some fried chicken because I know he likes it. I say it jokingly but he could take offense and I didn’t think about that. It was nice to see that my excuses were wrong and it helps me to rethink the things that I say or do before they happen and eventually I can eliminate the thought of saying or doing those things so I can help end the power struggle. I am now going to call my friends out when they say or do something degrading to someone of a different power group than him or her.