When it comes to most discussions of White privilege, the assumption most sociologists have is that Whites generally are not aware of the privileges they enjoy as a White person in predominantly White American society. However, as Diverse Education Magazine reports, a new study may suggest that contrary to that assumption, many Whites may indeed be well aware of their privileges:

Surprisingly, in a telephone survey of more than 2,000 households nationwide, a clear majority of Whites (74 percent) stated that their own racial identity was important to them. A similar majority of its White respondents recognized that prejudice and discrimination are important in explaining White advantage, according to the study. . . .

Of the 74 percent of Whites who said that their racial identity was important to them, close to half (37 percent overall) classified it as “very important,” a finding that stunned the researchers. By comparison, about 72 percent of Black, Hispanic and Asian respondents considered their racial identity “very important.” . . .

The research also found that a White person’s awareness of their race and their awareness of the privileges that come along with belonging to that race are not the same. . . . Respondents in a group of Blacks, Hispanics and Asians were almost twice as likely as Whites (81 percent to 46 percent, respectively) to say that institutions favor Whites.

That final quoted paragraph is important to understand -- being aware of one’s White racial identity is not the same as being aware of the privileges associated with being White. In fact, as the article also notes, less than half of Whites surveyed agree that American institutions favor Whites over minorities.

The question becomes, when 46% of Whites surveyed apparently recognize that their White identity is an advantage, can we then conclude that in general terms, Whites as a whole are aware of their privilege, in contrast to the conventional assumption that Whites generally are not aware of their privilege? I would say 46% is a pretty significant number of Whites who are aware of their privileges. It seems that we sociologists do need to rethink that conventional assumption.

In the larger picture however, what we finally need to ask is, now that many Whites are aware of their privileges in American society, how willing are they to actually do something about achieving racial equality so that all Americans, regardless of racial identity, have the same opportunities? Awareness is one thing -- willingness to act is another.