Institutional Racism Research Paper

Words: 1111
Pages: 5

A genuinely non-racist society is characterized by racial equality. In a racially equitable society, race would not affect how the benefits and drawbacks of society are distributed. A situation known as racial equality would occur when a person's skin tone has no bearing on whether they are more or less likely to benefit from or be burdened by society. Given what we witnessed our whole life, it is clear that this is not how our world operates. However, because of a phenomenon known as institutional racism, we are actually the reason behind this. We may not even be conscious of it, but we are unwittingly encouraging this racist society. Why, you wonder, we haven't obtained equality? You might believe just because African Americans are free, …show more content…
Institutional racism, also known as systematic racism, is prejudice or unfair treatment based on belonging to a specific ethnic group that is caused by establishing procedures, norms, or systems inside an establishment or organization. This type of racism is often invisible, at least to those who are not its victims; it is not always deliberate or immediately apparent.We are all unintentionally endorsing this idea of evil on an everyday basis. For example, we usually only associate racism with hate crimes and racial slurs, but we never associate it with anything else because society has constructed us to do that. Growing up, our parents and relatives are usually the ones who teach us right from wrong. We become what we see and what we're around. For instance, if you were raised eating candy for breakfast everyday, you would likely allow your children to do the same since it is customary in your household. While it may not have been the case for everyone, our current selves are shaped by the people and things we are exposed to on a daily basis as we grow up. A study by The National Library of Medicine was conducted with a child and their parents to see if their perceptions of race were …show more content…
Even if you were raised in a home where someone in your family may have had a negative encounter with a person of a different race, you will still harbor prejudice against that particular race. This keeps the cycle from ending because, despite the fact that you were never in that circumstance, you become the person you are around and refuse to let the negative thoughts of people of different races go. This is just one excellent illustration of how the lessons we receive as children shape who we become as adults in today's society. Throughout society we have become engrossed in using social media and almost everything in society has become invisible to us. Because of systems and institutions that frequently give preference to some groups over others based on either your gender, social status, or characteristics, society is set up in a way that encourages inequality. As I previously stated, the people you surround yourself with shape and influence the way you see the world and people. One's perspective can be affected even if they don't always feel the same way inside as everyone else, particularly if they are influenced by friends and family. This is especially clear when the ideas are at odds with another racial