2
Power and Privilege
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My Social Identities
Power and privilege create advantages for some people and disadvantages for others. The concept of intersectionality posits that various social factors combine to create benefits for some groups or marginalize them. One of my social identities is that I am educated to the university level. My level of education benefits me because I can apply for many jobs that uneducated or less educated people cannot. Also, being educated has increased my chances of getting a good job, living a decent life, and understanding my health status.
I suffer from no disabilities and thus, have access to some buildings disabled people may not easily access. The absence of disability made learning in any school easier and I did not encounter any form of discrimination. Regarding sexual identity, I am heterosexual, and therefore, I am not a target of any discrimination whenever I interact with different people in public or private. I live in an urban area, and I am therefore close to hospitals, and good sporting and educational facilities. Living in an urban area also presents more opportunities for me to seek employment in various organizations. I speak English which is a primary language in the United States. Speaking English eliminates language barriers whenever I interact with other people. I can freely express myself and also listen to others talk. Speaking English is an added advantage in my academic life because almost everyone in schools I attended spoke fluent English. Lastly, I am a Christian and I strongly believe in the existence of God. Being a Christian has also limited encounters of discrimination that some of my friends report encountering due to their religious status.
How I perceive the World
My level of power makes me feel that life offers many enjoyable moments for everyone. For instance, I have access to quality care offered in my area, can perfectly interact with other people using my English language and I also have access to several job opportunities because I qualify academically. Secondly, because of my power and privilege, I always feel that some groups like disabled people and girls need constant support to achieve their dreams. I love interacting with these groups, learning from them, and giving hope to them that there is a life to live. Lastly, my power and privileges sometimes lead me to discriminate against other people and feel that they have made wrong life decisions. For example, I tend to have negative attitudes toward homosexuals for their social identity because I think they made wrong decision to belong to these groups. Therefore, I would be quick to support some groups like the disabled and women, and criticize others such as homosexuals.
My Level of Power and Privilege and Ethics
First, I am literate. When making decisions I rely on logic and not intuition. In any ethical decision-making scenario, I analyze the merits and demerits of my decision before I eventually decide. Also, I engaged scholarly evidence and even discussed with some of my friends the way forward. Secondly, as a Christian, there are Biblical perspectives I also consider during decision-making. Some of the values I use to make ethical decisions is honesty and integrity. I understand that whatever decisions I make can have an eternal impact on my destiny and thus, have to make decisions that are in line with Godly perspectives.
