Why Is Institutional Racism so Important to Our Understanding of Racial Inequalities in Britain Today?

The weight of their existing evidence also suggests that discrimination does continue to still affect contemporary opportunities and social domains in today’s world.

This being despite constant growing evidence that race really does matter in the post-civil rights age, effective solutions are in short supply and as the authors talk about "mutual obligations." The authors brought up a nice analysis of American race inequality, focusing on the rise of white supremacy and the continuation of white privilege despite the removal of direct institutionalized segregation. Solving current racial problems seems nearly impossible because it requires addressing largely unseen forces of indirect institutional

Cognitive objectives covered in this course focused on understanding life experiences of diverse populations across the world as well as being aware of our own prejudices and attitudes towards diverse populations. The objectives focused on understanding institutional racism in both present day societies as well as in the

The potential effects of discrimination may also affect work and social

As mentioned in class during session 9, the main goal of social justice is full and equal participation of all groups within society (Stanton, 2017). The idea of groups not being equally included in society is viewed as oppression. Institutional oppression begins with the idea that one group is better than another group within society. The dominant group controls the marginalized population through structural and institutionalized aspects such as the creation of laws, its legal system and police practices, the education system and schools, public, political, and housing policies in place. Some examples of such institutional oppression can be seen throughout our history as African Americans make up the largest population of individuals in prisons, on parole, and probation. This is called institutionalized racism, is a problem among our society, and heavily influences the social work practice.

This paper will explore the causes and consequences of this racial disparity and political institutions that perpetuate the racial injustice. Analyses of this kind are significantly important considering the implications in the modern day society, where issues of race and justice are becoming more pervasive and exigent.

The anecdotal instances of racism in Rankin’s Citizen together demonstrates the existence of a structural form of racism. The anecdotes demonstrates that if a person is of colour they suffer different treatment which distinguish them to be an ‘other’ type of person. The idea behind these racist encounters can be further categorized into three categories: overt racism, covert racism, and institutional racism, and these ideas together form the basis behind structural racism.

Institutional is more far reaching than individual racism that only shows exists within contact between people. Institutional racism would be the discriminatory practices that the housing market has against people of color, like red-lining (Aguirre & Turner, 2009). Or institutional racism could be the military or government not allowing people of color or specifically Blacks from joining or punish them because of their natural hair, or they were wearing braids or other cultural styles. The major theme or characteristic here with institutional racism is that it can affect other spheres of society and does not just pertain to a few individuals. For instance, because of the racism within the housing market, now people of color will likely either live in a undesirable neighborhood,

Explanations that justify the use of racism directly relates to differential treatment of minority groups and contributes to racism’s existence as an unstoppable social problem. The foundations of these explanations are based on the common misunderstanding of the definition of race. Thus, problems that tend to concentrate in one race are mistakenly judged as “race problems”. This judgement leads to the establishment of a system of inequality between a superior race and inferior races. However, the logic behind these explanations don’t account for the true reasoning behind minority individuals value status. In fact, these explanations contribute to minority individuals’ further struggle in life.

Taking into consideration my early childhood, youth and adolescence, I could say that I was surrounded by people, who were friendly and shared common cultural values. However, with the hindsight at my whole life, I could say why the sense of institutional racism touches me so deeply. I was raised by my mother and my grandmother, both of whom could not read and write. Thus, for the illiterate people there were no chances to have higher status in the society. The only way to survive for them was hard physical work. Institutional racism, as a form of oppression, is more consequential and involves policies and acts that affect a large number of people. Life of my family is only one example of its impact. Even though, a lot of time has passed since then, the most recent incidents with Rodney King, Trayvon Martin and George Zimmer, illustrate how a black man continues to be viewed as a menace to society in America (Blumenfeld, 2010).

Institutional racism is nothing new to the political landscape and environment of the United States of America. Racism is a system of oppression based on race that creates advantages and disadvantages among groups of people. Racism includes the beliefs, practices, laws, customs, and social arrangements that systematically burden, disadvantage, devalue or render inferior members of one racial group in relation to another in a society. Racism is based on the belief on innate superiority of one race over another given to us courtesy of essentialism. The beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals, cultural norms, and the systematic institutional structures and practices of society support racism and continue its operation in U.S. society.

System-level racism contains, institutional and structural. Institutional racism can be described as policies and practices that are immoral and unfair in specific institutions (schools, work places, etc.) that constantly develop racially injustice for people of color and gives whites the upper hand. Structural racism possess a racial favor among different establishments – the history, culture, ideology, and interactions – that systematically privilege whites over people of

Institutional racism on the other hand is far broader in context and more complex. It refers to the ways in which racism has infiltrated into social institutions which govern, discriminate and oppress various groups within that society based on their race (McConnochie et al, 1988). These institutions within our societies, such as schools and healthcare services, use racism in a systematic manner which favours one group over all the others. Although racism as a notion is the same for both individual and institutional purposes, the consequences of the two are vastly different. Sociologists have argued that in the recent years racism has shifted from excluding groups on a biological basis, to more of a cultural basis of difference (Giddens, 2001; Van Krieken et al, 2010).

In our daily lives, one may note that some activities tend to favor some people or a group that is dominant in a certain area. This can be considered institutional racism. According to Memmi (2000), institutional racism usually aims at barring anyone from interfering with the advantages of the dominant group in a given geographical location. The best example of this kind of racism was the Apartheid in South Africa. The British tried to protect their lavish lifestyles by preventing the Africans from attending the same schools with them. In addition, the Africans were not allowed to use the same roads or eat in the same cafes with the whites.

There are many types of discrimination, other than the more well-known structures like race and sex, in light of ethnicity, religion, sexual introduction, age , inability or incapacitate, and lewd behavior. The specified portrayal alludes to a circumstance of the immediate separation, in which a man is dealt with antagonistically straightforwardly on the premise of a precluded ground. Backhanded segregation, alludes to a circumstance in which an evidently impartial arrangement or practice is prejudicial in its belongings. Other than immediate and circuitous separation, we may utilize the term institutional segregation. Institutional segregation alludes to the practices or techniques in an organization or an establishment, or even the general public all in all, which are organized in a way that tends to deliver biased impacts, for instance in the Apartheid administration in South Africa.