Alyssa Capili

Sociology 001
#10306
January 22, 2017
Project 1: Video Analysis
White Boy Privilege is a 14-year-olds slam poem, performed in front of his 8th-grade
classmates and teachers in Atlanta, GA. In it, Royce Mann, a white male, addresses white
privilege. He first apologizes to minorities for white privilege. Then he qualifies this apology
with his comparison of it to a safety blanket that he and other white boys are afraid to give up.
He spends the rest of the slam poem enumerating the ways in which white privilege is unfair and
embarrassing for a society that claims to champion freedom and equality. Throughout the poem
he uses the metaphor of a ladder on which he was lucky to be born on the top rung while other
minorities are born on lower rungs, giving him an advantage over others through no
achievements or hard work of his own. He ends with a line bringing back the image of the
ladder, powerfully encouraging white boys to take that ladder and turn it into a bridge.
Comte believed in positivism and emphasized social change. He postulated that social
dynamics and change are part of the progressive evolution of society, allowing society to become
more intelligent and altruistic. This social evolution occurs in three stages according to Comte:
the theological stage in which phenomena are explained by the existence of supernatural gods
and powers; the metaphysical stage in which phenomena are explained by more abstract forces
(i.e., nature); and the final positivist stage in which phenomena are explained by unchanging
laws of the universe. These unchanging laws of the universe are constantly pushing society to
evolve through social dynamics. In this theory, Comte would explain the inequality of white

privilege that Mann describes as an agent for social change. This unfairness and the people upset
by it, such as Mann, will push for social change, helping our society evolve into a more
intelligent and kind one.
Durkheim believed in structural functionalism. According to him, society consists of
many different parts that work together in order for the society to function properly. Examples of
different institutions of society are churches, government, family, school, etc. These separate
parts all work together to allow society to function. In this perspective, white privilege would be
considered a dysfunction: a social event/activity that negatively impacts society. In a properly
functioning society, institutions should be put in place to prevent and punish this dysfunction,
however our society has not completely gotten there yet. There are courts and laws that are
meant to guarantee and protect everyones freedoms and rights, yet our society still struggles
with discrimination and white privilege continues to be present.
Marx believed in the social conflict theory. According to him, conflict is the driving force
of change within society and this conflict is a result of class differences and limited resources.
These resources are unequally distributed and conflict of power arises. This is the social
paradigm most represented in this video. The discussion of white privilege is the epitome of a
social conflict rooted in and perpetuated by economic differences and status wherein the middleto-upper-class white male is at the top of an unjust ladder. White privilege directly embodies
racism, sexism, and classism, and is intertwined with many other forms of discrimination as well.
Social systems continue to benefit white males while also exploiting minorities, perpetuating this
inequality. According to Marx, social change occurs through protest, strikes, revolutions, and
war. This is especially relevant given the largest protest in US history happened this past
weekend. The Womens March around the world protested all the injustice that Royce Mann

talks about in his poem. It is an attempt to bring about change in our unfair society that often
helps the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This march and other protests are a result of
social conflicts and they bring to light the injustices in our society so that we may address them
and change.

Work Cited
Royce Mann, Age 14, "White Boy Privilege", Slam Poem. YouTube, 27 June 2016. Web. 16 Jan.
2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Q1jZ-LOT0>.