SOSS 15th Anniversary Seminar Series | What is Racial Privilege?

What is Racial Privilege?

The concept of demographic privilege (e.g., “white privilege”, “male privilege”, “class privilege”) is often appealed to by social scientists to explain social phenomena. It has also played a prominent role in recent social justice movements. Yet these appeals are controversial and have generated some critical pushback. Drawing on work by philosophers, I will argue that “privilege” is unhelpfully being used as a label for several morally distinct social phenomena. Furthermore, only some of these phenomena involve “privileges” in the traditional moral sense. The upshot is that “privilege” is too crude a term to accurately capture the relevant moral and social phenomena. To theorize better about social injustices, and resolve the critical pushback, we need a richer conceptual scheme that uses several terms in place of one.

SPEAKER

Matthew Hammerton

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Matthew Hammerton is Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the School of Social Sciences at Singapore Management University. He received his PhD from the Australian National University in 2017. He specializes in moral philosophy and has published articles on well-being, meaning in life, consequentialism, and moral reasoning. He has also served as the Singapore Delegation Leader to the 2020 and 2021 International Philosophy Olympiads.

DISCUSSANT

Chandran Kukathas

Dean, School of Social Sciences
Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Political Science

Professor Chandran Kukathas is Dean and Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Political Science at School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University. He was Head, Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) from 2015 to 2019. He also served as the Chair of Political Theory in the Department of Government and as Warden of High Holborn and Grosvenor House Halls of Residence at LSE. Before his appointment at LSE, Chandran was Neal A. Maxwell Professor of Political Theory, Public Policy and Public Service at the University of Utah and has taught at the University of New South Wales, Oxford University and the Australian National University. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science at the Australian National University and his Master of Arts in Politics at the University of New South Wales before going on to complete his Doctor of Philosophy in Politics at Oxford University.

Remarks: Due to limited seats, registration is on a first come first served basis.