Whence Invisible Backpack of *fill-in-the-blank* Privilege?

[capri0mni]

Now that I

a) am learning how to make simple, slide-show-based videos with "Windows Movie Maker" and

b) have a means to record my own voice-overs,

I'm thinking of making a series of slide-show based videos out of this post My own version of the Bipedal Privilege Backpack (each video focusing on two or three privileges at a time, and illustrated with stick-figure cartoons).

And I'd like to open with a discussion of what "Privilege" is, and what it means to have "an invisible backpack" full of it.

So I'm asking my circle:

What counts as "privilege"? Is privilege always founded in culturally determined biases? Is that the difference between "privilege" and "natural ability"?

and also: Whence the metaphor of the "invisible backpack"? Who thought that up, and what was the inspiration?

Comments

[spiralsheep]

"privilege" is a form of social power and/or cultural capital. Sometimes it's derived from being part of a social majority or sometimes, in hierarchical social systems, from x having more culturally-enforced social power-over than y because of a physically unrelated but culturally sanctioned z.

I'm sure there are better/simpler definitions if you google, but mine would obviously be based in ethical philosophy and I presume you want to reach your own working definition anyway.

(Note: I'm reasonably attached to concepts of "power-over" and "power-with", i.e. I have power-with you and you have power-with me because we have mutually chosen a relationship but someone would have power-over us if they could impose their choice of relationship terms on us without our consent.)

[spiralsheep]

AFAIK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_McIntosh originated the concept of the "invisible knapsack" but I don't remember what, if anything, she credits as inspiration (although there is an explanation in her writings on the subject).