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prevails because of the material power that gives preferential treatment to
privileged groups in accessing schools, jobs, housing and healthcare.
Perhaps what is often not acknowledged enough is that inequality is
maintained either by the way in which privileged groups remain silent or
actively seek to maintain their privilege. Wealthy suburbs continue to
benefit from more government resources, such as electricity, water, and
sanitation compared to townships and informal settlements. Policies
designed to redress material inequalities such as affirmative action are
highly contested and often condemned by privileged groups through the
media and legal processes (Kessi & Cornell 2015). These are examples of
passive and active ways in which privileged groups maintain their
privileged status.
Symbolic power recognizes the cultural characteristics and practices of
privileged groups. The ‘race’, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. of
privileged groups is presented as normal and these are made visible in the
media and the social imagination. Heterosexual relationships, for example,
are presented as normal in the vast majority of TV programmes, children’s
books, school textbooks and other forms of media. The absence of images
of men performing domestic tasks in the media reifies and legitimises the
roles and responsibilities of male and female groups in society. Cultural
practices that are considered ‘normal’ are sustained by myths and
ideologies – such as Christianity, capitalism and patriarchy that recognise
male dominance and westernized forms of family structures (Alexander
2005).
Psychological power allows privileged groups to conduct their daily
lives free from blame, shame, and humiliation and with the encouragement
of strong networks of support. Privileged individuals do not have to worry
about being denied service at a restaurant or being followed suspiciously
by security guards in shopping malls. Individuals from privileged groups
often benefit from high self-esteem as a result of an internalized sense of
entitlement and superiority. They believe that their privileged access to
material and symbolic power is natural or that they deserve it because of
their hard work. These beliefs are motivated by ideologies such as
individualism and meritocracy that prevail in capitalist democracies