Identity and Privelege

       Last week in class, we discussed ideas behind the concepts of identity and privilege. The term identity has very broad definition in this course. Therefore, for our intents and purposes, the term identity is an umbrella, with many other subcategories beneath it. Two of these subcategories are ascribed identity and  self identity. Ascribed identity is “how others may see you or what society may impose on you”(as taken from the slide sow presented in class. In some cases, this may not correspond with your self identity, which is how you see yourself in society. Self identity may take the form of attributes that you associate with yourself. These attributes are ones that many others may have. Shared attributes among others increase your chance of finding someone that get along with and understands you. Several attributes can also be said to have certain privileges, or a special advantage, that may help you more in society, compared to somebody who does not share that attribute with you.

For example, I am classified in the United States, by society, as Hispanic, simply because I have a common Hispanic last name. In truth, I can trace my family back to France and southern Spain. Therefore, I am European, or White Spaniard, but because society states that I am Hispanic, many of those around me have always assumed that I am either 1) Mexican, 2) Latina, or 3) Puerto Rican. In some cases, I sometimes find that I agree with statement society makes, because I do not have ancestors that inhabited the United States when it was first colonized. In other situations, I find that I disagree with what society has labeled me, especially when someone asked me if I was going to a protest concerning the new act against the illegal immigration of many Mexicans. In this case, my self and ascribed identity do not match, and most of the time,  this is true. But I still find that I show my self identity simply by the friends I have made, who are usually white-caucasian or are of the middle upper class.

I know that my sister, female cousin, and I are not given the same privileges as my male cousin, simply because he is male. I know that when he went away for college, my grandparents bragged a little that he got into Boston University with a scholarship. Not much was said when I got into Baylor, The University of Arizona, and Arizona State University, all with scholarships. I know that even though he did not return for his sophomore year, and is now doing part-time schooling at a community college and Cal-State Fullerton, he is looked upon much more than I am for being a college student. They say he has to work very hard and that he is taking many extra courses to get to where he wants to be; they say that I am not doing as difficult a workload as he is, when, all be told, they do not know what courses I am taking. They cut him more slack than they do me. In truth, all accomplishments the girls in my family make are not as good as his. In my family, being male is a definite privilege, compared to being a female.