Current mood:	chipper
Entry tags:	privilege, privilege checklists

Non-Poor Privilege Checklist
Currently, we have The White Privilege Checklist, The Male Privilege Checklist, The Non-Fat Privilege Checklist, The Straight Privilege Checklist, The Non-Trans Privilege Checklist, and The Non-Disabled Privilege Checklist.

And since we've had some excellent wealth-related discussions here and in other communities recently, I'd like to see a non-poor or wealth privilege checklist created here for reference. The primary difference from the other checklists is that someone with a particular income is always going to have advantages over someone with a lower income, advantages that are not results of social bias. I don't think direct privileges like "I have the privilege to buy lots of stuff!" need to be listed. However, if there's something that might not be obvious that goes along with, say, the ability to buy a car or such, feel free to list that. There are all kinds of indirect or partly-direct privileges related to this.

Middle class is a vague enough starting point, please make a note if the privilege you're listing applies to the rich (aka the upper-upper-middle-class) in particular.

My examples are largely US-focused (though they certainly apply to other countries) because that's the country I'm most familiar with. Please list what country or countries (yes, US included!) you're discussing when listing examples.

If you can post citations for more specific examples, all the better. For example, I know that poorer neighborhoods have worse access to libraries, parks, etc than richer neighborhoods, but I have no idea how precisely great the difference is.

And finally, I'm not doing this for school or anything, just for reference in general.




Direct ---> Indirect in these examples means that a direct result of non-poor privilege - being able to afford - leads to an indirect privilege, which I'd count as either something that the person with that privilege does not have to worry about or may have never considered (as in example 1) or something that can lead them to judge the worth of people who cannot afford . Probably an unecessary descriptor, but I can clean it up later.

NON-POOR PRIVILEGE CHECKLIST:

1. (Direct ---> Indirect) I have the privilege of buying what I want to eat every day and night, rather than looking for the cheapest food and best deals.

2. (Political/Attitude Direct ---> Indirect) I have the privilege of boycotting certain stores because I disagree with them politically or personally, as well as the privilege of looking down on people who do not boycott those stores.

3. (Poorly worded Direct ---> Indirect) I have the privilege to purchase small luxuries like CDs or Frappuccinos, as well as the privilege to look down on poor people who do the same. I have the privilege to look down on them because I can believe that if they saved $5-30 a month on these luxuries, they wouldn't be poor, OR that if they have the $5-30 a month to spend on these luxuries, they cannot truly count as poor.

4. (Indirect) I have the privilege of deciding what counts as "luxuries," from food types to entertainment options.

5. (Partly Direct) I have the privilege of opening a bank account, and possibly the privilege of avoiding monthly "maintenance" fees, as most banks charge $4-8 a month if a member's checkings or savings accounts drop below a certain amount of money.