Coming back to this really late... I think there's a difference between "privilege" as a countable noun and "privilege" as an uncountable noun.
Basically, if you call it "a privilege" you're probably well aware of it. "It's a privilege to be here", "Getting my own office is such a privilege".
But privilege, the uncountable noun, is the whole set of privileges that your status in society gives you. It's a whole bundle of things and of course you can't be conscious of all of them, all the time, because part of the nature of privilege is that you take it for granted. So I know intellectually that I am privileged because I got to go to university, but that won't stop me moaning about having a bad time there.
People who don't understand the concept of privilege are making two interrelated mistakes. First, they think their own situation represents some kind of norm, or even some kind of minimum, and they compare themselves to the better-off rather than the worse-off. Secondly, they confuse privileges with the status of being privileged. So they think they can't possibly have privilege because by definition, everything they see as *a* privilege is something they don't have. Because they're the norm, remember?
This article (http://sindeloke.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/37/) is, for me, one of the best explanations of privilege on the internet.
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Basically, if you call it "a privilege" you're probably well aware of it. "It's a privilege to be here", "Getting my own office is such a privilege".
But privilege, the uncountable noun, is the whole set of privileges that your status in society gives you. It's a whole bundle of things and of course you can't be conscious of all of them, all the time, because part of the nature of privilege is that you take it for granted. So I know intellectually that I am privileged because I got to go to university, but that won't stop me moaning about having a bad time there.
People who don't understand the concept of privilege are making two interrelated mistakes. First, they think their own situation represents some kind of norm, or even some kind of minimum, and they compare themselves to the better-off rather than the worse-off. Secondly, they confuse privileges with the status of being privileged. So they think they can't possibly have privilege because by definition, everything they see as *a* privilege is something they don't have. Because they're the norm, remember?
This article (http://sindeloke.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/37/) is, for me, one of the best explanations of privilege on the internet.