Privilege Questionnaire

Privilege questionnaire

What Is It?

The Unitarian Universalist Association’s privilege questionnaire addresses privilege and oppression within its faith community. Individuals use the questionnaire’s scoring system to reflect on their race- and socially-related privilege.

The questionnaire helps us understand how privilege functions on personal, cultural, and institutional levels. It can highlight biases which may result in giving unearned advantages to some and disadvantaging others. The UUA encourages individuals to examine their own privilege and its impact, and to engage in dismantling oppressive systems. 

You might be interested in this children’s activity, What Is Privilege?

Privilege Points Questions

Use a blank piece of paper to score yourself based on the points gains or losses below.

  1. Add three points if you can do well in a situation and not be called a credit to your race. If that could very well happen to you add one.
  2. Add one if your ancestors were forced to come to the U.S. or forced to relocate from their historical lands in the U.S., add three if that did not happen to your ancestors.
  3. Add three if in most cases when you ask to speak with the person in charge you will be facing a person of your race, add one if in most cases you would not be facing a person of your race.
  4. Add three points, if when you learned about the history of this country and of civilization in general your racial group was primarily represented, if not add one point.
  5. Add one point if English is not your first language, add three points if it is.
  6. Add three points if you can be pretty sure you will not be hassled by store security while shopping because of your race, add one point if you can’t be sure.
  7. Add three points if when you use checks, credit cards or cash, you can count on your skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability, add one point if you can not count on that.
  8. Add one point if in a work situation you were the lead of a project team and going to meet with a client who didn’t know you, and the client might assume that colleagues who have come along with you, whom you actually supervise, are in charge instead of you, because of your race, add three points if your race would not be likely to cause this assumption.
  9. Add three points if a traffic cop pulls you over you can be pretty sure you weren’t singled out because of your race, add one point if you can’t be sure you haven’t been singled out because of race.
  10. Add three points if you can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having co-workers on the job suspect that you are unqualified and got the job because of your race, add one point if some co-workers are likely to think that.

Scoring

10-15 In U.S. society many obstacles will be put in place that will interfere with you getting the things required to have what the society considers a good life, simply because of your race.

16-20 In U.S. society some obstacles will be put in place that will interfere with you getting the things required to have what the society considers a good life, simply because of your race.

21-25 In U. S. society some resources will be offered to you that support you to get the things required to have what the society considers a good life, simply because of your race.

26-30 In U. S. society many resources will be offered to you, whether or not you want them or ask for them, that will support you to get the things required to have what the society considers a good life, simply because of your race.