Privilege is unearned, sustained benefits and advantages that stem from membership in a dominant social group including, but not limited to, race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability. Privilege tends to be an unspoken advantage to those who possess it, as the absence of privilege is what calls attention to it. Individuals with privilege must take a step back and reflect how it benefits them daily, as it is difficult to recognize without its absence.

There are many different types of privilege. They include, but are not limited to, the following types: Race, gender identity, socio-economic status, sexuality, education, ability, religion, and citizenship status 

For people in dominant racial and gender identity groups, they do not need to worry about being discriminated against or harassed by others in contrast to the minorities in these demographics. Example: there are 34 states where you can legally be fired for being trans.

Having access to medical appointments due to adequate insurance, socio-economic status and citizenship status. Example: Black women are three to almost four times more likely to die while pregnant.

Attending professional spaces and not being worried about feeling isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared due to race, gender identity, or sexuality. Example: Minority individuals when they submitted a white sounding resume rather than one that revealed their race were over twice as likely to be called back for an interview.

Before you can fight for the rights of others, it’s important to understand what rights and privileges one has that others don’t. You can use your privilege for good by first acknowledging it and then taking action to address instances of privilege.

This may look like engaging in difficult conversations about the role of privilege, creating space for those harmed by displays of privilege, joining advocacy groups, being an ally for those speaking out for social justice, lobbying in government, spreading awareness through art and writing, etc.

Ableism: Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on differences in physical, mental, and/or emotional ability. Rests on the assumption that able-bodied is “normal” while other states of being need to be “fixed” or altered. 

Accessibility: The “ability to access” the functionality of a system or entity, and gain the related benefits. The degree to which each person, regardless of ability status, is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.  

Ageism: Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on differences in age; such as referring to someone’s age in a context in which age is not relevant, or equating knowledge and wisdom with age as opposed to experience. 

Anti-Semitism: Hatred, discrimination, hostility, or oppression of or against Jewish people as a group or individuals. Frequently charges Jewish people with conspiring to harm humanity; employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.  

Bias: Prejudice; an inclination or preference, especially one that interferes with impartial judgment. Biases can be negative or positive, and can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individual, group, or belief. Unconscious/implicit bias can influence judgment, decision-making, and behavior in ways that are outside of conscious awareness.  

Classism: Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on difference in socioeconomic status and income. Differential treatment based on social class or perceived social class. 

Diversity v. Equity v. Inclusion

• Diversity: Describes how people differ, including psychological, physical, and social differences that occur among all individuals.
• Equity: Ensures that individuals are provided the resources they need to have access to the same opportunities. Social equity seeks to address the underlying and systemic differences of opportunity and access to social resources. 
• Inclusion: Creates an environment in which any individual or group will be welcomed, respected, supported, and valued as a fully participating member.

Elitism: The belief that a select group of individuals with a certain ancestry, intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, special skill, or experience are more likely to be constructive to society, and therefore deserve influence or authority greater than that of others. 

Homophobia: Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions against individuals who identify or are perceived as LGBQ+.  This manifests as an irrational fear, aversion, or dislike of people who identify as homosexual. There are forms of structural discrimination that prevent access to opportunities and inhibit individuals from feeling safe. 

Intersectionality: Framework for understanding the ways that multiple forms of inequality can compound themselves, and create obstacles that are often not understood within conventional ways of thinking about discrimination. Recognizes that individuals’ experiences of belonging to more than one social category simultaneously can inform how they experience inequality and discrimination. Introduced and developed by Cornell alumna Kimberlé Crenshaw ‘81. 

• Example: a Black woman does not experience gender inequalities in exactly the same way as a white woman, nor is her racial oppression identical to that experienced by a Black man.  

Microaggression: Brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative biases toward members of historically marginalized groups. Include insults, stereotyping, undermining, delegitimizing, overlooking, or excluding someone. 

Oppression: The systemic use of institutional power and ideological/cultural dominance. Signifies a hierarchical relationship in which dominant or privileged groups benefit, often in unconscious ways, from the disempowerment of subordinated or targeted groups.

Privilege: Unearned, sustained benefits and advantages that come from membership in a dominant social group as it pertains to race, gender, sexuality, ability, socioeconomic status, age, and other differences. Tends to be invisible to those who possess it because its absence is what calls attention to it. 

Racism: Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions against targeted racial groups, often based on a presumed superiority of the white race over groups historically or currently defined as non-white. Exists at the cultural, individual, institutional, and structural levels. 

Settler colonialism: Refers to colonization in which colonizing powers create permanent or long-term settlement on land occupied by other peoples, by force. Differs from colonialism in that it typically includes oppressive governance, dismantling of Indigenous cultural forms, and enforcement of codes of superiority. 

• Example: Cornell is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ (Cayuga Nation), and its founding was enabled in the course of a national genocide by the sale of almost one million acres of stolen land under the Morrill Act of 1862. 

Sexism: Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on sex or gender. Encompasses misogyny, defined as hatred of, aversion to, or prejudice against women and other gender minorities. 

Transphobia: Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on a rejection of transgender identities, umbrella terms meaning those who do not identify with their gender/sex assigned at birth. Manifests in many ways, including violence, harassment, and discrimination; can exist in straight as well as LGBTQIA+ communities. 

Tokenism: Performative presence without meaningful participation. For example, a superficial invitation for the participation of members of a certain socially oppressed group, who are expected to speak for the whole group. 

White fragility: Describes the privilege acquired by white people living in a society that protects and insulates them from race-based stress. Coined by Robin D’Angelo, who argues that this builds an expectation of always feeling comfortable and safe, which in turn lowers the ability to tolerate racial stress and triggers a range of defensive reactions. 

Xenophobia: Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on immigration status and perceived foreignness. Rooted in a belief that immigrants and foreigners are inferior to the dominant domestic group. Can result from things such as competition for jobs, or ethnic, racial, and religious prejudices.

These definitions have been sourced from various DEI glossaries/dictionaries compiled by other universities and organizations. For more information and definitions, we encourage you to visit the following:

• https://edib.harvard.edu/files/dib/files/dib_glossary.pdf
• https://www.naco.org/resources/featured/key-terms-definitions-diversity-equity-inclusion
• https://environment.uw.edu/about/diversity-equity-inclusion/tools-and-additional-resources/glossary-dei-concepts/
• https://www.diversity.pitt.edu/education/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-glossary
• https://epi.washington.edu/sites/default/files/website_documents/DEI%20Glossary_Formatted_20190711.pdf