Ian Ayres, an experienced writer on the topic of racial and ethnic inequalities, explores the idea of privilege and the deeper unconscious actions of discretionary benefits towards certain races. Based off of an Eddie Murphy skit on SNL called “White Like Me,” the author makes the connection of people giving things to each other for free, to a field experiment in Australia. Despite the geographic distance between Australia and the United States, the same issues and conclusions backed by research, can be seen in our country. This field study demonstrated another way researchers can exemplify racial privilege in today's society. The experiment included 29 young adults from various ethnic groups and both genders where they got on a bus and inserted a fare card that was empty. The point of the study was to see how many times the bus driver let that person go on for free. The results varied by driver, but all indicated some form of relative favoritism toward the tester that shares their race. Despite that result, black drivers still favored white testers. The study also tested different dress attires, such as army uniforms and business wear, which found that those variables also contribute to the favoritism. This field experiment shows that there are still racial biases and unconscious actions people do to solidify those preconceived notions. This experiment simply illustrated that discretionary benefits can be as commonplace as letting a person go on the bus for free.
Ayres, I. (2015, February 24). When Whites Get a Free Pass. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/opinion/research-shows-white-privilege-is-real.html
Ayres, I. (2015, February 24). When Whites Get a Free Pass. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/opinion/research-shows-white-privilege-is-real.html
I found that this article was a great example of how white privilege works in society. The reason that privilege is so effective is that it is unnoticed by those who benefit, which is highlighted in the article. In this experiment, the bus drivers favored the white testers more than the black testers when they asked to ride the bus with no way of paying for the service, even though the questionnaire distributed afterwards indicated no significant statistical bias against the minorities by the drivers. It is crucial to recognize that benefits from race are still relevant and evident in society, even in something as small as allowing someone to ride the bus for free.
ReplyDeleteI really really enjoyed reading this article and hearing about the results of the study they conducted. As we talked about in class, while privilege is the idea that no one sees it or realizes the small things that come with being white and this article couldn't back that up anymore. There are so many incidents that occur where people don't realize whats going on, like this one, that allows white privilege to be proven. Even if its as something as small as a free bus ride, it all adds up in the end. I enjoyed this too because it was very similar to mine, giving so many examples of how small something can be, but being a white person you never realize it until its actually brought to your attention.
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