The Global Sociology Blog

Via Wicked Anomie, this list of social privilege markers has been making the rounds of the sociological blogosphere. Every time you answer yes to one of these propositions, it adds to the amount of privilege you enjoyed. Of course, the maximum is 33.

1. Father went to college. Yes
2. Father finished college. Yes
   
3. Mother went to college. Yes
   
4. Mother finished college. No
   
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor. Yes
   
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers. Yes
   
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home. Yes
   
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. Yes
   
9. Were read children’s books by a parent. Yes
   
10. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18. No
    
11. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively. No
12. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18. No
13. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs. No
    
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs. No
    
15. Went to a private high school. No
    
16. Went to summer camp. No
    
17. Had a private tutor before you turned 18. No
    
18. Family vacations involved staying at hotels. No
19. Your clothing was bought new before your turned 18. No
20. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them. No
    
21. There was original art in your house when you were a child. Yes
    
22. You and your family lived in a single-family house. No
    
23. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home. No
    
24. You had your own room as a child. No
    
25. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18. No
    
26. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course. No
    
27. Had your own TV in your room in high school. No
28. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college. No
    
29. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16. No
    
30. Went on a cruise with your family. No
    
31. Went on more than one cruise with your family. No
    
32. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up. Yes
33. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. Yes

So, that’s 11 for me, which places me quite low on the social privilege scale, more power to me, I guess. However, there are a few basic issues with this scale (even though it’s a neat thought experiment). First and foremost, this list is very culturally biased. I grew up in France, so, some items in this list do not apply (”no”) but that doesn’t mean they should count as negatives. For instance, college was free (thank goodness). Also, living in a rented apartment was/is a common occurrence.

All in all, my mother-headed family was low on economic capital (yeah, we were poor), but scored high on cultural capital (to make a very loose use of Bourdieu’s concepts): my mother was the first woman in vet school in the 1950s and her parents were both school teachers. We had books at home (solid, classical lit books) and public library cards. Reading was encouraged. In a country like France, maybe, just maybe, cultural capital mattered more than economic capital since free college allowed access to higher education for me and my 8 impoverished siblings.

And of course, we could all use some brushing up on our Pierre Bourdieu and Basil Bernstein.