Checking your privilege
A beginner’s guide to cultural competence in a clinical setting
Barely a week goes by at present without some mention of the concept of ‘checking your privilege’ appearing in either a news piece or on social media. The idea is commonly referred to in relation to equal rights discussions where those in a privileged position due to cultural biases are encouraged to consider their position objectively. Overall, I think we can all agree that this is no bad thing for people to get into the practice of.
From the point of view of privileged individuals, as a clichéd example a white, wealthy male, the process of ‘privilege checking’ could create both positive and negative effects on wider society. One advantage for the rest of the world might be a greater appreciation from these individuals of all those in less privileged positions have achieved. Some people in such socially constructed positions of power may use this to society’s advantage to effect positive social change in a way which may not be possible for those with fewer resources available to them. In contrast such self-insight may also be used in an exploitative way with the privileged simply becoming more privileged.
From the point of view of less privileged individuals ‘checking privilege’ may be a form of giving some context to the challenges that life has provided. For example, an individual who is the first to go to university from their family could be argued as more successful than someone who is the latest in several generations of a family who have all been university educated. Contrastingly it could be argued that awareness of one’s disadvantage in a wider context only serves to discourage.
While this summary is incredibly simplistic and really does not do justice to the vast discussion of these issues (I defer to experts in the field here) it does have relevance in a realm I am more familiar with from a psychological standpoint; the therapy room.
In order to really understand what goes on in a therapy room in terms of the roles of therapist, family members and the ability of each to understand the other the idea of privilege and cultural competence is a vital one. Divac and Heaphy (2005) proposed ‘cultural competence’ as a skill that should be consistently demonstrated by therapists working in mental health. They developed an idea of the Social GRACES as an acronym to help trainee counsellors and therapists consider the social and cultural factors which clients and practitioners bring into the therapy room. The characteristics that they believed therapists should consider about themselves were:
G (gender, geography)
R (race, religion)
A (age, ability, appearance)
C (class, culture)
E (ethnicity, education, employment)
S (sexuality, sexual orientation, spirituality)
An example of how this theory might be relevant would be in relation to the recent influx of child asylum seekers entering the UK. Imagine a young girl, aged 11, from Syria being taken to a psychotherapist in London to discuss traumatic events she has been exposed to over the past year. The psychotherapist is a London born, gay, white, 45 year old Jewish male. What are the cultural dynamics in this room?
It seem clear that the therapist holds the position of power in the relationship given he is older and no doubt physically larger. He probably has a more secure grasp of the English language given the girl’s only recent arrival in the UK. Each individual would no doubt identify differently in religious and cultural terms. How might the therapy session taking place in the therapist’s home country affect this dynamic further? It is clear that he will have a lot to think about if he is going to engage this new client on the right level which will require some serious consideration of these factors on his part.
However, consider a second scenario where this same therapist is now working in a small country town where his latest client is the major of the town. The major is 60 years old, married with several children who are prominent figures in the community, and he is a practicing Catholic. What are the power dynamics here?
I will not go through the ways in which this scenario differs from the first in detail but it is clear the therapist is no longer holding the cultural position of power. This phenomenon of flexibly privilege is known as ‘multiplexity’ (Akamatsu, 1998). I think the idea captures nicely how assessing privilege just once is never sufficient – it is a socially constructed concept and is relativist in nature. In a synagogue being Jewish gives you a position of stability and control, however, being Catholic puts you in this position when you are in a church.
In order to work effectively with a range of people in a clinical context it is always pertinent to consider the interplay of these factors in order to in some way mediate them or be aware of their possible effects. In summary, don’t just check but check, check and check again.
Are there any other factors you think therapists should consider?