bashoGWSS1

Johnson’s model of power seemed to stand out the most when looking at the different models of power that we have read during the past week. Johnson explains that there is this “social construction� of reality. This meaning: “unless you live in a culture that recognizes differences as significant and meaningful, they are socially irrelevant and therefore do not exist� (Johnson 21). He goes on to say that these made up thoughts that we have/make, sort of become the way we think about things/people and we start to make these categories placing people in them, based on these absurd thoughts. This is when privilege comes into play “when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to� (Johnson 23).

As Johnson would say, these privileges are what create the +5 system from which power operates through the norms in culture. The +5 system of privileges is basically a system that we operate under, giving “unearned privileges� to the white, males, heterosexuals, people in the middle class and people that are Christian/from the western world. This is how power operates, through this so called +5 system that everyone is compared to. I think that this system is especially relevant when thinking politically. Think of the status of people in power now, they are all/most +5 persons. I do think that politically and looking at the United States as a whole this system applies, but when you look at smaller aspects it might not as much as you would think.

This model of power has many limitations attached to it, and really influences how we act and live as gendered subjects. Because we are constantly being compared to these standards (+5) we seem to be constantly hiding or at least very aware of the – aspects about us, for example a person being homosexual or a different race other than white. This system creates the problem of unearned privileges and power because these 5 categories totally split up the population.