Please read the assignment prompt below and use the example, and the Activity instructions to build a summary of the privileges that the person described in the activity might have in the Western culture.

Please read the assignment prompt below and use the example, and the Activity instructions to build a summary of the privileges that the person described in the activity might have in the Western culture. Please be a thorough and in-depth as possible in your explanation.

Prompt:

At this point, it might be worth reflecting on what you have experienced that could be a privilege in your life, stemming from such things as your race, ethnicity, gender, or age. What about your socioeconomic status, including that of your family, your current social class, level of education, and so on might be important to know? Do you have any privilege based on these factors? What are your feelings about these factors in relation to others, especially the client population you are working with? Remember, you also can have unconscious feelings and beliefs about these things. Knowing about them is important because they can give rise to both transference and countertransference when dealing with others. If you like, make a list of those you are likely to encounter in your internship and what you feel or believe about them, and then reflect on that list.

Example:

In Western cultures, privilege is often given to people who are heterosexual, white, young, tall, Christian, wealthy, educated, healthy, and male. Conversely, any person who does not fall into one of the favored or privileged categories may suffer some type of social, emotional, or economic disadvantage. It is also important to realize as a human services worker that even if a client does fit into a “privileged” category, it is still necessary to treat that person as an individual and not as though they are “privileged.”

Activity:

Now use what you know and pretend you are a white, married (to a white man), female in our early 40’s that came from a poor family. You have one older sister and one younger brother, but your parents are divorced. You were the first in your family to go to college. You are financially stable, which puts you in the middle class. You are currently doing an internship with a human service agency that works with people 60 years old or older, while you are finishing our degree.