Law of diminishing marginal utility and give examples of how this affects consumers

Whiteness’ is a term coined to describe and define the act of “affording privilege to white people (McIntosh, 1988), but inspiring terror in those who are not (Hooks, 1997)”. In this way, White privilege is “invisible to white people, but clearly visible to those who are not (Ahmed, 2007); the privileges given to the White people are simply regarded as obvious, and those that do not have the privileges are the ones that are affected by it. Furthermore, the majority of ‘Pakeha’ or ‘White people’ are so accustomed to having access to the cultural and economic capital that it is now a ‘habit’ (Ahmed, 2007), an “integral, yet invisible” aspect of life. The “systemic advantage of whiteness” lies on the fact that it provides protection against social distresses, confers advantages and allows the White people to journey through life without being marked by ethnic or racial disadvantages (McIntosh, 1988).

The colonisation of New Zealand in the past, has in fact, moulded a society where White people have unearned assets and advantages that allow them to live their lives with greater convenience and ease than non-White people. However, members of the White majority seem to be in denial of such consequences (Colvin, 2009). The history, the events of the past are so important in that “the injustices of the past have real implications for our present lives” (McIntosh quoted in Henley, 2007) and the consequences still live on.

The Maori were, and still may be affected by discriminatory practices in the “domains of work, housing and healthcare” (Harris et al. 2006), as well as other Pakeha-dominated institutions. Verbal abuse, violence, poorer service provision, stigmatisation are but some of the ways in which basic Maori human rights and general living standards are challenged. The lower median income, the less likeliness of attaining a formal educational qualification or owning a house also supports this idea that th