Mentioning privilege in personal statement?

[fanzzublay]

Hi all, I'm getting started on my statements for this application cycle. I'm wondering if it would be a good or bad thing to talk about my realization of my privilege? I've definitely experienced adversity like trauma and mental illness (which I'm also still trying to figure out how to incorporate in my statement appropriately) but I'm white and grew up in an upper middle class family without too many issues. Taking women's studies classes in college and coming to understand systems of oppression and how some of my identities give me unearned advantages over other people was a pretty big factor in my decision to pursue social work. I am wanting to convey awareness of that instead of making my challenges seem bigger than they are. Not sure how to proceed. Any advice is appreciated!! 

[fuzzylogician]

Please read this: http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf. 

[rising_star]

FWIW, I'm not sure the traditional kisses of death apply when it comes to the MSW since it's not a research degree AND it's a field that has a clear social justice orientation. Within that context, I think that acknowledging your own privilege by showing awareness of it and how it will affect the work you want to do as a social worker could be to your advantage. This of course assumes that you do so well and are tactful in your approach.

[ediblestranger]

1 hour ago, fuzzylogician said:

Please read this: http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf. 

It's not a kiss of death in social work.  Far from it actually.

48 minutes ago, rising_star said:

FWIW, I'm not sure the traditional kisses of death apply when it comes to the MSW since it's not a research degree AND it's a field that has a clear social justice orientation. Within that context, I think that acknowledging your own privilege by showing awareness of it and how it will affect the work you want to do as a social worker could be to your advantage. This of course assumes that you do so well and are tactful in your approach.

What he said.

In the field of social work, recognizing your privilege (whether rooted in SES, race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or some combination) is considered perhaps the single most important step you can take toward acknowledging the social injustices that exist in society and beginning to chip away at your culturally-programmed biases, blind spots, and ideas/stereotypes about marginalized groups.  Take those who deny white privilege and class privilege, for example - do they tend to be the kind of people who view racial/ethnic minorities or the poor as deserving of our help?  Generally, no.  Because people who have that mindset tend to think that everyone has the same life chances - or that racial/ethnic minorities and the poor receive unfair advantages, even.  By "checking your privilege" you are rejecting the status quo, acknowledging injustice, and opening yourself up to thinking critically about race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, etc. which is what it takes for most people to develop social justice values.  Convey this thoughtfully, and it'll make a great addition to your personal statement.

[fanzzublay]

Thanks so much for the thoughtful responses!

[julesevar]

depends on how much you buy into victim ideology and political correctness

who is to say that your own person struggles are worse or better than someone else

 

[UrbanMidwest]

Wow. I thought I heard it all. I guess not.

[fanzzublay]

19 hours ago, UrbanMidwest said:

Wow. I thought I heard it all. I guess not.

Care to elaborate?

[UrbanMidwest]

7 hours ago, fanzzublay said:

Care to elaborate?

 

Just focusing on you post what are these "unearned advantages"? What exactly were you taught in these women's studies classes?

Edited August 25, 2016 by UrbanMidwest

[fanzzublay]

2 hours ago, UrbanMidwest said:

 

Just focusing on you post what are these "unearned advantages"? What exactly were you taught in these women's studies classes?

Just the fact that by virtue of my race, class, etc I have better opportunities in life. For example, I was able to seek help for my issues financially and had family support. Someone of lower socioeconomic status or different cultural norms about the stigma of going to therapy might not have been able to do that. Seems pretty important for a social worker to recognize when working with diverse groups but I'm not really looking to debate you especially since you apparently don't believe any of that. Was just curious what your vague comment meant. 

[ediblestranger]

On 8/24/2016 at 11:52 PM, fanzzublay said:

Just the fact that by virtue of my race, class, etc I have better opportunities in life. For example, I was able to seek help for my issues financially and had family support. Someone of lower socioeconomic status or different cultural norms about the stigma of going to therapy might not have been able to do that. Seems pretty important for a social worker to recognize when working with diverse groups but I'm not really looking to debate you especially since you apparently don't believe any of that. Was just curious what your vague comment meant. 

Uhm, yeah... you bet.

But just for shits and giggles, I would be interested to hear @UrbanMidwest's argument against recognition of privilege and how they plan to work with disadvantaged groups or carry out their social justice mission without this.  Unless social justice isn't a concern of theirs, in which case I'd say social work probably isn't a very appropriate career choice.

[Supersocialworker]

Hi there, it may be too late for my response but I will say I DID include my acknowledgement of privilege in my essays. My prompt was to write about working with individuals with different cultural backgrounds than myself and how this change my view. In my intro I acknowledged my struggles, but noted being a Caucasian, American born female has given me many privileges that I didn't realize did not exist for Latino immigrants who are undocumented until I started working with these families directly and seeing the fear and uncertainty they face when working with governmental agencies. This shows them you can practice humility, you desire to learn, and you recognize difference in power/privilege. To me, it is necessary to list at least once, somewhere, that you recognize privilege.