In 1988, a scholar named Peggy McIntosh sat down and started making a list. She wasn't trying to write a manifesto or spark a global culture war. Honestly, she was just trying to figure out why the men she worked with at Wellesley College couldn't see their own advantages. She noticed they were perfectly happy to admit women were "disadvantaged," but they froze up the second anyone suggested men were "over-privileged."
Then came the epiphany.
McIntosh realized she was doing the exact same thing with race. As a white woman, she had been taught to see racism as individual acts of "meanness" by "bad people," rather than an invisible system that handed her a bunch of keys she never asked for. This realization led to her groundbreaking essay, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.
If you’ve spent any time on the internet or in a HR training session in the last decade, you've heard the term. But the way we talk about it now—often as a weapon or a badge of shame—is miles away from what McIntosh actually wrote in her office at the Wellesley Centers for Women.
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The Knapsack That Changed Everything
So, what is the "Invisible Knapsack"?
McIntosh described white privilege as an "invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks." Basically, it’s a toolkit you carry around that makes life easier, but because you didn’t pack it yourself and you can’t feel the weight, you forget it’s there.
She famously listed 46 (later expanded to 50) examples of this in her daily life. Some were heavy, like being able to move into a neighborhood without being harassed. Others were surprisingly mundane. She noted she could buy "flesh-colored" bandages that actually matched her skin or go into a grocery store and find the staple foods of her cultural tradition without searching the "ethnic" aisle.
You’ve probably seen these lists. They’ve been cited thousands of times.
The brilliance of her work wasn't just in the list itself, but in the framing. She shifted the conversation from "How are others being hurt?" to "How am I being helped by a system I didn't create?" It was a massive psychological shift. It took the focus off the "other" and put the mirror in front of the person with the most power to change the status quo.
The Myth of Meritocracy
One of the biggest friction points in this conversation is the idea of "earning" your success.
McIntosh wasn't saying white people don't work hard. That's a huge misconception that gets people's guards up immediately. She was a Harvard-educated PhD; she knew all about late nights and grit. Her point was about the starting line.
She argued that society teaches us a "myth of meritocracy." We’re told that if you work hard, you’ll succeed, period. But her essay pointed out that while hard work matters, there are "unearned assets" that act like a tailwind for some and a headwind for others.
- Example: You get a job because you’re qualified. That’s earned.
- The Privilege: You never have to wonder if your race was the reason you didn't get an interview. That’s the "blank check" in the knapsack.
Why People Get So Angry About This
Let’s be real: the word "privilege" feels like an accusation.
When a white person who is struggling to pay rent or dealing with a health crisis hears they are "privileged," they usually want to throw something. And rightfully so—if you’re suffering, being told you have an advantage feels like a lie.
McIntosh actually addressed this, though it often gets lost in the modern shuffle. She distinguished between "positive advantages" (things we should want for everyone, like feeling safe when pulled over by police) and "negative advantages" (things that reinforce hierarchy, like the "privilege" to be ignorant of other cultures).
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She even admitted later that "privilege" might be a misleading word. Some of the things on her list aren't "extra" perks; they are basic human rights that should be the "normal civic and social fabric" for everyone.
The anger often stems from the feeling that "privilege" negates personal struggle. But in McIntosh's view, you can be privileged in one way (race) and deeply disadvantaged in another (class, gender, or disability). It’s not a zero-sum game of who has it worse.
The "Privilege Walk" Controversy
If you’ve ever been in a workshop where people are told to "take a step forward if your parents graduated college" or "take a step back if you’ve ever felt unsafe walking home," you’ve seen a "Privilege Walk."
Most people think Peggy McIntosh invented this.
She didn't. In fact, she’s been quite vocal about her dislike for them. In 2021, she explicitly told interviewers that she urges people not to do these exercises. Why? Because she thinks they are too "one-size-fits-all" and can be counterproductive, leading to shame rather than systemic understanding.
She prefers "Serial Testimony"—a method where people speak from their own experience for a set amount of time without being interrupted or judged. It’s about listening, not about who ends up at the front of the room.
Does the Knapsack Still Hold Up in 2026?
The world is different than it was in 1988. We have digital spaces now that didn't exist when McIntosh was writing. Does a "white" algorithm on a social media site count as a knapsack item? Probably.
Critics like to point out that McIntosh came from a place of extreme economic security—her father was a wealthy executive and she grew up in affluent New Jersey suburbs. Some argue her list confuses racial privilege with class privilege. They aren't entirely wrong; being wealthy solves a lot of the problems on her list.
However, even wealthy people of color report being followed in stores or fearing for their children’s safety. That’s where McIntosh’s core thesis remains solid. The skin-color advantage doesn't disappear just because you have a high-limit credit card.
Moving Beyond the List
So, what do we do with this? If you realize you’re carrying the knapsack, do you just feel bad?
No. Guilt is useless. It’s actually a form of ego—making someone else’s struggle about your own feelings.
McIntosh’s goal was never to make people feel "wicked." She wanted to help people see the "invisible systems" so they could start dismantling them. If you’re a manager, you use your "blank check" to ensure your hiring process isn't biased. If you’re a teacher, you check your curriculum to see whose stories are missing.
Actionable Steps for Real Change
Instead of just "unpacking" and looking at your stuff, here’s how to actually use the information McIntosh gave us:
- Stop the default. Pay attention to when "white" is treated as the "normal" or "neutral" category. Whether it’s in the books you read, the movies you watch, or the way you describe people, notice when you only mention race for people of color but leave it out for white people.
- Listen without the "But." When someone describes an experience of bias, the privileged brain often jumps to find an alternative explanation ("Maybe they were just having a bad day"). Try to just listen. Accept their experience as their truth.
- Audit your "invisible" systems. If you're in a position of power—even a small one—look at the rules. Are they designed for people who have the same "maps and passports" you do?
- Spread the "Positive Advantages." If you have the privilege of being listened to by "the person in charge," use that access to bring up issues that don't affect you personally but harm others.
Peggy McIntosh turned 90 recently. Her work is nearly four decades old. While the specific items in the knapsack might change—maybe now it’s about who gets verified on an app or whose face a facial recognition software can actually see—the underlying system remains. The goal isn't to empty the knapsack; it's to make sure everyone has the same tools to navigate the world.
Next Steps for You:
If you want to go deeper, read the original 1988 working paper, "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women’s Studies." It’s much longer and offers a more nuanced look at how these systems overlap than the shortened "Knapsack" essay most people read in school.