Institutional racism

Not to be confused with Societal racism, Structural inequality, Structural violence, or Structural abuse.

Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, healthcare, education and political representation.[1]

The term institutional racism was first coined in 1967 by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton in Black Power: The Politics of Liberation.[2] Carmichael and Hamilton wrote in 1967 that, while individual racism is often identifiable because of its overt nature, institutional racism is less perceptible because of its "less overt, far more subtle" nature. Institutional racism "originates in the operation of established and respected forces in the society, and thus receives far less public condemnation than [individual racism]".[3]

Institutional racism was defined by Sir William Macpherson in the UK's Lawrence report (1999) as: "The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour that amount to discrimination through prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people."[4][5]

Individual or formal equality of opportunity typically disregards systemic or institutional aspects of inequality and racism.[6] Institutional racism could be caused by power imbalance.[7] Combating institutional racism is a motivation for structural changes.[8] Substantive equality with equality of outcomes for people of different races and ethnicity could be one way of preventing institutional racism.[9] Diversity, equity, and inclusion can be applied to diminish institutional racism.[10]

  1. ^ Harmon, Amy; Mandavilli, Apoorva; Maheshwari, Sapna; Kantor, Jodi (13 June 2020). "From Cosmetics to NASCAR, Calls for Racial Justice Are Spreading". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Bhavnani, Reena; Mirza, Heidi Safia; Meetoo, Veena (2005). Tackling the Roots of Racism: Lessons for Success. Policy Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-86134-774-9.
  3. ^ Carmichael, Stokely; Hamilton, Charles V. (1967). Black Power: Politics of Liberation (November 1992 ed.). New York City: Vintage Books. p. 4. ISBN 978-0679743132.
  4. ^ "The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: Report of an Inquiry by Sir William MacPherson of Cluny" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 November 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  5. ^ Home Office, The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: Report of an Inquiry by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny, Cm 4262-I, February 1999, para 6.34 (cited in Macpherson Report—Ten Years On in 2009); available on the official British Parliament Website.
  6. ^ De Vos, Marc (2020). "The European Court of Justice and the march towards substantive equality in European Union anti-discrimination law". International Journal of Discrimination and the Law. 20 (1): 62–87. doi:10.1177/1358229120927947.
  7. ^ Anthias, Floya (1999). "Institutional Racism, Power and Accountability". Sociological Research Online. 4 (1): 143–151. doi:10.5153/sro.239.
  8. ^ Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy. Rep. no. 978-92-9085-076-2. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 2010. Web. 3 Nov. 2011.
  9. ^ Stancil, Paul. "Substantive Equality and Procedural Justice." Iowa L. Rev. 102 (2016): 1633.
  10. ^ Singleton, Kaela S.; Murray, De-Shaine R.K.; Dukes, Angeline J.; Richardson, Lietsel N.S. (2021). "A year in review: Are diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives fixing systemic barriers?" (PDF). Neuron. 109 (21): 3365–3367. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2021.07.014. PMID 34358432.