Chapter 5

Chapter 5 of PPD has to deal with the actual problems with privilege, and how privilege isn’t really there, unless you think it is. The chapter starts off talking about the different ways that people think that there is privilege in what they do. It states different ways that the Dominant race does not see privilege as a problem; some of these are: they don’t have to, they don’t notice, or they don’t believe that it exists. These are all valid points because if you are on the top, you really don’t concern yourself with the problems of those who are beneath you. More of these that can be seen on pages 70-71, these points are mostly centered on them not really caring. This is the center of the whole chapter. People have to decide whether or not privilege is real or if it’s just something that people use to get what they want. Johnson goes on to talk about the business that struggle with this question on a daily basis; whether to spend money on training for minorities and women or to let them walk and they lose lots of money from that. It ends saying that we need to find away for us to remove the barriers that have been put into place and start to work together

In the beginning I was agreeing with Johnson, he is saying what I have said all along, there is no privilege unless you think that there is. White people don really worry about this because it doesn’t really involve them as much as the rest of the world, it starts to become a struggle for everyone in the end, as the business don’t want to let minorities leave but, they don’t want to have the chance of them losing their position in there job ether. After awhile, he starts to talk about “breaking barriers” which I think he was referring to the barrier between employer and employee. This could work if people were not so self centered that they only think about their own position in life other than other people, but this will never happen so its really just wishful thinking. I have heard stories from people that at their jobs where their employer tried to get them fired in fear that they would one day lose their job to them. I all just human nature and you cannot change human nature.