What is Privilege?

A friend and I were talking about privilege. After some discussion, I declared that a definition of privilege could be “the absence of trauma regarding not having that certain thing.” Think about it.

Privilege is actually defined as a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. A quick look lists some specific privileges: race, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, neurology, citizenship, religion, physical ability, health, level of education, and others (I would add beauty and wealth privilege).

But this traditional definition leaves so much unexplained. For example, white privilege isn’t specifically gaining anything (although sometimes it does)- it is more about the absence of trauma (or issues that hopefully don’t lead to trauma) about not being white. Beauty privilege would be the absence of issues about not being beautiful.

But privilege could be better defined as “the absence of some of the problems that go along with not having that certain thing- problems that often lead to trauma” Because not all problems lead to trauma, and not all people without that thing have those problems. And often times, people with that privilege still have lots of OTHER problems, and don’t feel privileged at all.

You could say that a definition of the American Dream is “working hard to get privilege and pass on privilege to your children.” (specifically wealth privilege) But the problem with privilege is that in its essence- it is a lack. Sure, a lack of problems or trauma, which sound pretty good to me, but it is still a lacking. Most often, the benfits that may be gained from that privilege are superficial (we can see this pretty clearly in beauty privilege).

Everyone will always have problems. Some of these problems will lead to trauma. That is life. Even the most privileged people have trauma and problems. If there were no problems, this wouldn’t be earth- it would be heaven. And honestly, if there were no problems, we wouldn’t need God. Why, if we had no problems, would we ever turn to God for help? I am not saying that we should go looking for problems because they help us rely on God or because they help us grow. I am not saying I will take away all the privilege from my kid because I think they will learn from it: I am saying that there is a special grace and place for those who do not have privilege.

Not having privilege sucks. It sucks up your time and energy to deal with the problems and the trauma. So much of it is surviving, not thriving. It is not something to be desired or wished on someone.

Having privilege is not a right or wrong thing, but by itself, it can become toxic. If the point of privilege is to keep it for yourself, then you will just create new problems to deal with. The point of privilege is to serve. To share in the pain and problems. God didn’t allow us to have privilege to get lazy and selfish: but to give the energy and time that we gained through that privilege to those that don’t have it. Privilege hoarded leads to an unhealthy life and relationships. unshared privilege is toxic. The lack that privilege gives is fixed through service and relationship. Relationships help us with what we don’t have, in a positive or negative sense.

Connecting this with personal experience, I have a lot of privilege. As a missionary, I’ve seen what citizenship privilege (I call it passport privilege) can get you. When a couple, one American and one a national of the country, was thinking of serving, the American (rightly so) identified the privilege they would have serving in that country (this is true of some countries more than others). But I honestly don’t see it as a long-term good thing. Sure, it might draw crowds, having an American there, for many reasons: but is that really going to lead to long-term results?

My friend and I surmised that privilege can often work towards Evangelism, but it can work AGAINST Discipleship. I’ve felt the strong LACK that comes with passport privilege. While the American in the couple might find short-term success, it would be the national spouse that would actually bring credibilty and probably longevity to the ministry.

it is important to identify privilege not just because it keeps us humble, but also because the results it gives are often superficial. Privilege isn’t something that qualifies you for the job, but it does often open the opportunity for the job. The danger is in under-indentifying (thinking we just deserved it) and over-valuing what privilege brings to the table. There is also danger in giving up because you don’t have the privilege (falling into the victim mentality), or in hoarding privilege instead of using it to serve others.