Miller, "Domination and Subordination," RCG,73-9
Chafe, "Sex and Race: The Analogy of Social Control," RCG, 475-89
McIntosh, “White Privilege” RCG, 165-70
James Wright, "Living Jim Crow" RCG 23-32



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What’s the difference between permanent and temporary inequality?

List out Chafe’s four levels of social control . Think of examples for each of the four levels for gender, race, class and sexual preference. Under each level, list specific actions of dominants and subordinates that fit into that category.

• How do Miller and Chafe fit into one another?

• How does Wright’s account of his childhood illustrate both Miller and Chafe’s ideas?

• How are the circles of control illustrated by McIntosh’s article?

• How do assumptions of whites as described by McIntosh fit into Miller’s categories of domination and subordination?

What other mechanisms of social dominance and control are not covered by Miller and Chafe’s list?

What does this anatomy of social dominance show us about connections between race and gender?

• Why make the analogy between race and gender? How are women, African Americans , Native Americans, and gays similarly controlled in our culture?

• Where does the analogy break down? How are the situations of women , gays, and racial minorities NOT the same?

What kinds of social control have you experienced?

As McIntosh’s article makes clear, we all live complicated lives: in some contexts we are privileged; in others we are subordinate. What kinds of privilege do you accept unconsciously?

How do MacIntosh’s meditations on racial priviledge apply to gender and class?

Did all/any of these articles surprise you? Make you think differently about things?

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Last update: 8/20/99