The Privilege of Ignorance

Sor Juana understood how power structures maintain themselves through controlled information and selective education. In ethical consumption, 'the privilege of ignorance' describes how wealthy or dominant groups can afford not to know about exploitation in their supply chains. They purchase without investigation, remaining willfully blind to labor abuses, environmental devastation, or resource extraction affecting marginalized populations. This ignorance is not neutral—it enables injustice. Sor Juana would insist that intellectual responsibility includes actively seeking knowledge that power structures hide. Ethical consumption demands rejecting the comfort of not-knowing. It requires acknowledging that ignorance about harm is itself a moral choice, one that perpetuates injustice. By contrast, choosing knowledge—investigating brand practices, learning production conditions, understanding environmental consequences—becomes an act of solidarity with those harmed by our consumption. The privilege of ignorance becomes a target of critical consciousness, something to actively renounce.