Introduction
Britain is becoming increasingly diverse, and with this rise in diversity businesses, government and other organisations need to develop a better understanding of different cultures, religions and beliefs so as to not exclude or marginalize certain groups. This essay will take a look at institutional racism what it is, what is meant by it, its different definitions and how it emerged. Also this paper will focus on specific organisations such as the police to try and understand the effects of institutional racism, how it is being tackled and what racism is in terms of ‘institutional racism’.
What is institutional racism?
The term was first used by Hamilton and Carmichael in (1976, pp.4) within the civil rights and black power movements
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Is it the individuals within the organisation that produce racist outcomes or an organisations policies? Is institutional racism just a reflection of a societies collectivised prejudices manifested on a larger scale? Two stances can be taken when defining institutional racism the first described by Jones (1997) when he states “Institutional racism is defined as...those established laws, customs, and practices which systematically reflect and produce racial inequalities in…society. If racist consequences accrue to institutional laws, customs, or practices, the institution is racist whether or not the individuals maintaining those practices have racist intentions. Institutional racism can be either overt or covert (corresponding to de jure and de facto, respectively) and either intentional or unintentional.” The second view of institutional racism described by Garcia et al (2008) “Racism consists in viscous attitudes towards people based on their assigned race. From there, it extends to corrupt the people, individual actions, institutional behaviour, and systematic operations it infects. Some, however, seem not to think of racism in this way, as something that, like cruelty or stupidity, can escalate from its primary occurrence in individual people to infect collective thought and decision making of an organisations, and from there, to contaminate the behaviour of institutions.” We …show more content…
The report concluded that the police service was ‘Institutionally Racist’ and outlined ways in which to tackle the problem, one of these being a “review and revision of racial awareness training in police forces” also “Annual published reports on the progress of police authorities in meeting their ethnic minority recruitment, promotion and retention levels”(Guardian,1999). The report also recognised five key areas that the police had to improve on, these being: Employment, training, retention, promotion and Stop and search (EHRC, 2009). Jack Straw (2012) described in his book how significant this inquiry was when he stated “I want this report to serve as a watershed in our attitudes to racism. I want it to act as a catalyst for permanent and irrevocable change”. The police should be representative of the people and community in which they serve, and as that community becomes ever more diverse so must the police in order to reflect society. By having more police officers form ethnic minority backgrounds the understanding of different religions and cultures is easier to understand. Chief Superintendent Dal Babu states “It's about having that cultural understanding…do you understand the cultural aspects that might be misinterpreted as being aggression within a particular community? Do you understand when communities are
Do the institution and also those officers serve it act discriminately to different race group? On the one hand, it has to be admitted that some actions taken by the police are leading to the greater involvement of young black people in the criminal justice system but they cannot be recognised as discriminative behaviours. For example, the police tend to give priority and more effort into certain crime categories and some deprived areas, depending on local and central first concern. As a consequence, some criminals of ethnic groups and ethnic minority residences living in certain areas are inevitably more likely to come into contact with the
In 1999, black men are much more likely to be stopped and searched by six percent than Asian and White men. The Macpherson inquiry report generated institutional racism after the death of a young black man named Stephen Lawrence. There are disproportionately large number of crimes committed by young black men, according to police records that leads to inequalities (Parliament u.k., n.d.). In the light of, policy makers tried their best to ameliorate the racism problem and to prosecute racist offenders (Phillips, 2007). However, the implications of institutional racism affect black men and remains prevalent up to these days based on statistic records.
Many minority groups describe racism and other forms of discrimination as being more than just prejudiced towards people based on certain characteristics. Prejudice plays a large role in what is considered to be racism, but it also consists of having a dominant position in society and power to institute and take advantage of their racism. This dominant group of people have the most power, the greatest privileges, and what’s considered to be the highest social status. They use their power to provide themselves with (easier) access to resources like housing, education, jobs, food, health, legal protection, and et cetera. On the other hand, the subordinate group of people are singled out for unequal treatment and are regarded as “objects” of collective discrimination. They are provided with inferior education, food, jobs, healthcare and et cetera.
Structural Racism is a form of racism that revolves around ideas and beliefs of a dominant group which gets implemented in the society and are seen as the cultural norm in the community. Other ethnic’s cultural practices are obligated to confirm to the dominant group’s cultural practices or risk being outcast. Structural racism tends to favour one ethnic group over the other as it is likely to oppress and marginalise other cultural groups. (Horan, 2015)
Next, Institutional or systemic racism refers to the laws, policies, practices, rules and procedures that operate within organisations, societal structures and the broader community to the advantage of the dominant group or groups and to the detriment and disadvantage of other groups. Institutional racism may be intentional or unintentional. Jim Crowe is a great example of institutional racism. Jim Crow laws were the name of the racist caste system put in place to segregate African Americans, Hispanics and any ethnic minority. Theses laws made it so non whites could not integrate with minorities. These laws applied to hospitals, buses, toilets and drinking fountains and restaurants. For example Buses: All passenger stations in this state operated
Choudhury and Fenwick (2011) argue that as a result of increased policing and stop and searches, more members of minorities are subjected to prejudice and discriminatory views from law enforcement which has heightend distrust amonst minorities with the police force as laws are seen as being unlawfully implicated amongst members of their minority group as a result of their race of religious
Policing in Canada is much different from many other nations due to the rich cultural diversity that Canada is blessed with having. The discussion on policing in a multicultural society must be viewed as a much more political question on how to respond to diversity (Ben-Porat, 2007). Policing has a problem when minority groups feel alienated from the Police or when they feel that the police are enforcing discriminating policies and unjust laws (Ben-Porat, 2007). There are many examples in Canada of racial biases on the side of the police. Recently the RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson made a public address acknowledging racial bias in Canadian Policing (Ireland, 2016). Unfortunately, credibility and legitimacy of the police among different minority groups in Canada has yet to be met due to these groups feeling that they have been unfairly treated (Ben-Porat, 2007). Most police agencies in Canada now have some form of diversity training relating to specific minority groups. Another thing that some of Canadas police agencies have done
Institutional Racism- consists of established laws, customs, and practices that systematically reflect and produce racial inequalities in a society, whether or not individuals who maintain those policies and practices
We have a long history of racism in America that has been structured to favor White people. Structural racism can be defined as, “a system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity. It identifies the dimensions of our history and culture that have allowed privileges associated with “whiteness” and disadvantages associated with “color” to endure and adapt over time”(Structural Racism, 2004,p. 11). Overt racism became illegal during The Civil Rights Movement that took place between 1954-1968 (Tuck, 2015). Although society seemed to be heading toward a more socially acceptable society, the movement enabled white people to blame the struggles black face as a character flaw. White people will believe that black people have a lot of problems because their culture is bad or they have bad values. The message they are reinforcing is that being black is inferior, and this is an example of structural racism operates. Structural racism is a system of forces that keeps people of color in a permanent second-class status, and it is the foundation of racism in our society. Society is structured in a way where the hierarchy of white people oppresses Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, etc and has
While on the job, police must put all their personal opinions aside. They must provide everyone with an equal and fair chance. It is important in a democratic society for police to not know too much about the community they are policing. It allows them to ...
Because institutionalized racism is a factor that affects how individuals engage with race, Packer’s “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Stories” proves that institutional racism aids in causing segregation. In the article “Disguised Racism in Public Schools,” Samuel Brodbelt goes into great detail about how institutionalized racism is seen in many public schools today. He also further explains how the effects of institutionalized racism may cause segregation between the races. Brodbelt states “today, the public schools serve as an example of the extent of institutional racism” (Brodbelt 699).
To say that racism is institutional is to refer “to the ways in which racist beliefs or values have been built into the operations of social institutions in such a way as to discriminate against, control, and oppress various minority groups” (Henry et al, 2004). Institutional racism is a facet of structural violence—but is by definition restricted to structural violence or cultural violence for which race is the catalyst and with racial bias or bigotry the sustaining element.
This source is useful because it explores the idea of institutional racism in a simple manner. Using this article, the explanation of institutional racism can be used as the framework for the introduction of the argument. Due to the straightforwardness of the paper, this certainly helped give a better understanding on how to fully analyze the idea of institutional racism present in the current educational system.
Randall, Vernellia R. "Institutional Racism in American Society." Race, Racism, and the Law 2000: n. pag. Web. 27 Nov. 2014.
Institutional racism is when social institutions give negative treatment to people of a certain ethnicity, which in effect leads to inequalities. The UN (2015) states that only 15% of New Zealand’s population are Māori, and yet Māori make up over 50% of the prison population. The racism in the justice system means that people are being prosecuted based on the colour of their skin. With criminal behaviour connected with Māori, this leads to marginalisation, alienation and racism in other forms of society. I will discuss the state of Māori in New Zealand prisons, followed by what effect this has on the Māori community and also the implications this has on wider society.