Is Everyone Really Equal?

Robin DiAngelo is an affiliate associate professor of education at the University of Washington and author of Seeing Whiteness: The Essential Essays of Robin DiAngelo.Özlem Sensoy is professor of education and inaugural director of the Cassidy Centre for Educational Justice at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.

• ContentsSeries Foreword James A. Banks  xiiiAcknowledgments  xixPreface  xxiWhat Is Critical Social Justice?  xxiChapter Summaries  xxiiiPrologue  xxviiA Parable: Hodja and the Foreigner  xxviiLayers of the Parable  xxviii1.  How to Engage Constructively in Courses That Take a Critical Social Justice Approach  1An Open Letter to Students  3A Story: The Question of Planets  5Guideline 1: Strive for Intellectual Humility  6Guideline 2: Everyone Has an Opinion. Opinions Are Not the Same as Informed Knowledge  9Guideline 3: Let Go of Anecdotal Evidence and Examine Patterns  11Guideline 4: Use Your Reactions as Entry Points for Gaining Deeper Self-Knowledge  13Guideline 5: Recognize How Your Social Position Informs Your Reactions to Your Instructor and the Course Content  15Grading  17Conclusion  20Discussion Questions  21Extension Activity  212.  About Knowledge  22Knowledge as Socially Constructed  22Research on Knowledge as Socially Constructed  26Applying Critical Theory  29Finding Common Ground  33Discussion Questions  36Extension Activities  36Patterns to Practice Seeing  373.  Culture and Socialization  38What Is Culture?  39What Is Socialization?  39Cultural Norms and Conformity  43Implicit Bias  44You in Relation to the Groups to Which You Belong  48Discussion Questions  53Extension Activities  53Patterns to Practice Seeing  554.  Prejudice and Discrimination  56What Is Prejudice?  57What Is Discrimination?  61All Humans Have Prejudice and Discriminate  62Discussion Questions  64Extension Activities  64Patterns to Practice Seeing  655.  Oppression and Power  66Social Stratification  67Understanding Power  69What Is Oppression?  71Understanding the “Isms”  75Internalized Dominance  81Internalized Oppression  82Discussion Questions  88Extension Activities  88Patterns to Practice Seeing  896.  Understanding Privilege Through Ableism  90What Is Privilege?  91External and Structural Dimensions of Privilege  92Internal and Attitudinal Dimensions of Privilege  98Common Dominant Group Misconceptions About Privilege  106Discussion Questions  109Extension Activities  110Patterns to Practice Seeing  1107.  Understanding the Invisibility of Oppression Through Sexism  111What Is an Institution?  112Sex/Gender and Science  113An Example: Sexism Today  118What Makes Sexism Difficult to See?  121Dominant Discourses of Sexism as Empowerment  126Discussion Questions  137Extension Activities  137Patterns to Practice Seeing  1388.  Understanding the Structural Nature of Oppression Through Racism  139What Is Race?  141A Brief History of the Social Construction of Race in the United States  141A Brief History of the Social Construction of Race in Canada  142What Is Racism?  144Two Key Challenges to Understanding Racism  145Racism Today  148Dynamics of White Racial Superiority  151Dynamics of Internalized Racial Oppression  155Racism and Intersectionality  157Common White Misconceptions About Racism  161Discussion Questions  168Extension Activities  169Patterns to Practice Seeing  1699.  Understanding the Global Organization of Racism Through White Supremacy  170Whiteness and White Supremacy  171White Supremacy in the Global Context  174Discussion Questions  189Extension Activities  189Patterns to Practice Seeing  19010.  Understanding Intersectionality Through Classism  191Mr. Rich White and Mr. Poor White Strike a Bargain  191What Is Class?  193Common Class Terms  203Class Socialization  210Common Misconceptions About Class  212Understanding Intersectionality  219Examples of Everyday Class Privilege  221Common Classist Beliefs  222Discussion Questions  226Extension Activities  226Patterns to Practice Seeing  22711.  “Yeah, But . . .”: Common Rebuttals  228Claiming That Schools Are Politically Neutral  229Dismissing Social Justice Scholarship as the Personal Opinions of Woke Radicals  230Citing Exceptions to the Rule  230Arguing That Oppression Is Just Human Nature  231Appealing to a Universalized Humanity  232Insisting on Immunity From Socialization  232Ignoring Intersectionality  233Refusing to Recognize Structural and Institutional Power  234Denying the Politics of Language  235Invalidating Claims of Oppression as Oversensitivity  236Positioning Social Justice Education as Something “Extra”  237Being Paralyzed by Guilt  238Discussion Questions  240Extension Activity  240Patterns to Practice Seeing  24112.  Putting It All Together  242Recognize How Relations of Unequal Social Power Are Constantly Being Enacted  243Understand Our Own Positions Within Relations of Unequal Power (Intersectionality)  246Think Critically About Knowledge  250Act in Service of a More Just Society  254Discussion Questions  258Extension Activities  259Patterns to Practice Seeing  261References  263Glossary  291Index  301About the Authors  321