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Alice Goffman Research Paper

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Dr. Alice Goffman brought to light a real problem we face today and that is the alarming amount of adolescents incarcerated in the United States. I grew concerned when Dr. Goffman stated an uncomfortable statistic – The United States imprisons 716 out of every 100,000 citizens. She had a creative approach to getting her point across by giving an illustration of the two possible journeys to adulthood: school or prison. One of these adventures is not voluntarily chosen and becomes a norm for minorities. What hits home for me is the reality of white privilege and how prevalent it is today. There is so much truth to Dr. Goffman’s words in regards to specific entitlements just for the color of one’s skin. I am sure all of us can give several examples of school fights – and I (as well as my white friends) tell these stories with half-hearted grins, or similar to embellished fishing stories, and these stories never end behind bars, or in court rooms. …show more content…

Goffman went in detail about a game she observed during her study, where two boys played chase. One child was the “fugitive” whereas the other was the “cop.” They portrayed the cop as a ruthless hunter, unfair to everyone he caught – and the fugitive was submissive and had no chance to win/escape. This made me start thinking a lot and gave me a great example of white privilege and how it affects future generations; for I have a thirteen month old daughter and she is at the stage where she copies everything her parents and the people around her do. That is how she learns what is acceptable and so on. Now, I can fast forward five years from now, and I can tell you her version of chase would be quite different from those boys. Matter a fact, her opinion of a police officer would be as well! This is not because she is any better than those boys mentioned above, it is simply her

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