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Writings of W. E. B. Du Bois
Arguably, the history of privilege as a concept dates back to American sociologist and historian W. E. B. Du Bois's 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk. Here, he wrote that although African Americans were observant of white Americans and conscious of racial discrimination, white Americans did not think much about African-Americans, nor about the effects of racial discrimination. In this book of essays, he also proposed the idea of “double-consciousness,” a concept of possessing two identities: “an American; a Negro; two warring ideals in one dark body.” In 1935, Du Bois wrote about what he called the "wages of whiteness," or the "psychological wage" held by white Americans. He wrote that these "wages" included courtesy and respect, automatic admittance to all public functions, lenient treatment in court, and access to the best schools.

New Section: Gender Privilege

The idea of privilege in terms of gender gained popularity during the women’s movement through the late 1970s. This concept is more commonly referred to today as “male privilege.” This idea is based on a “perceived difference”. The stereotypical male characteristics are considered beneficial, while stereotypical female characteristics are disadvantageous. This results in the gender-role conflict among men, the tension created by not possessing those stereotypical characteristics, which supports the idea of a perceived difference among men and women.

Various studies have proven that women receive lower wage returns than men within the same occupation. A study by Magnusson concluded that one of the contending reasons for the wage gap is due to women who are married/”cohabiting." “Compared with fathers in relationships, married/cohabiting mothers are less likely to have jobs that contain work characteristics that are difficult to reconcile with family duties.” Another theory explaining why the wage gap exists is that men are more likely to feel they deserve higher pay. A common belief when studying the wage gap is that women’s idea of “wage entitlement” is “depressed,” while men’s is “elevated.”