How Does Racial Or Ethnic Discrimination Become Institutionalized - Essay Example

How does racial or ethnic discrimination become alized? First of all, it is of particular importance to see the clear difference between race and ethnicity. In terms of the nation, people are united by commonality of language, territory they occupy as well as their mentality. That is, each ethnic group has a unique culture of its own. It is also considered to be a group that shares a definite ancestral heritage. Speaking about race, it is usually defined by certain physical characteristics. In fact, nationalities that live close to each other, in neighboring regions, do not differ greatly. Touching upon a subject of race, the difference in appearance of people, who inhabit different continents, turns into race distinction, or human categorization. In this paper, I am going to consider the phenomenon of institutional race discrimination. The differences in people’s appearance have been always evident. The oldest confirmation of this statement was found on murals and bas-reliefs from the times of Ancient Egypt. It should be also noted that the majority of modern scholars agree in the opinion that the notion of “race” has been in fact a recent invention. They also claim that it has been initially a folk idea but not at all a product of scientific investigation or discovery. Thus, it appears that it is not to anthropologists. According to Audrey Smedley, “since the 1940s, when Ashley Montagu argued against the use of the term “race” in science, a growing number of scholars in many disciplines have declared that the real meaning of race in American society has to do with social realities, quite distinct from physical variations in the human species” (1997). Montague claimed the following: “I argue that race was institutionalized beginning in the 18th century as a worldview, a set of culturally created attitudes and beliefs about human group differences” (Smedley, 1997). Vernellia R. Randall states that “any action, intentional or unintentional, that is based on race or skin color and that subordinates an individual or group [of individuals] based on skin color or race is racism” (2008). In this respect, one should define what discrimination is. According to Diana Kendal, discrimination is “actions or practices based of dominant-group members (or their representatives) that have a harmful effect on members of a subordinate group” (p. 287). Returning to the subject of race discrimination, it may be enacted in two ways: individually or institutionally. So, it appears that racism may be not only ideological, it is in fact much more than how some people feel. Thus, one may come to the conclusion that racial discrimination may be institutional as well. In this case, it is integrated in the social structure along with routine practices of the majority of basic social institutions of a certain state. It aims at harming members of a separate subgroup due to its racial background. Kendall suggests the following example of racial discrimination: “a bank might consistently deny loans to people of a certain race or a university might not accept additional Asian American students in its first-year class or medical school because of an institutional assumption that persons in this racial-ethnic category are already overrepresented at the school” (2014, p. 287). In this connection, it is of particular importance to point out that the majority of scholars, who make a special study of race issues, mostly focus on individual racism. Nevertheless, state institutions are also capable of supporting racial and ethnic discrimination. To be more specific, there are several possible ways, in which these institutions may behave. That is, their behavior may be overtly racist (for example, institutions may exclude black people from services), or inherently racist (for instance, governments may adopt policies of approve bills that aim at restricting the rights of Blacks and therefore may result in the total exclusion of black men). In her work, Randall suggests the explanation of Professor Mary Douglas, who says: “When individuals disagree on elementary justice, their most insoluble conflict is between institutions… The more severe the conflict, the more useful to understand the institutions that are doing most of the thinking. Exhortation will not help. Passing laws against discrimination will not help… Only changing institutions can help. We should address them, not individuals, and address them continuously, not only in crises” (Randall, 2008). From this, it follows that institutions can react upon black and white men in different ways. Thus, institutional behavior is able to injure black people and derogate from their rights, “and when it does, it is racist in outcome, if not in intent” (Randall, 2008). In such a way, institutions may encourage racism. Sociologist Joe R. Feagin, in his turn, identifies four main types of discrimination (Kendall, 2014, 287-288 p.). Among them there is isolate and small-group discrimination as well direct and indirect institutionalized discriminations. The last two types are of particular importance for this essay. Speaking about direct institutionalized discrimination, it may be “organizationally prescribed or community-prescribed action that intentionally has a differential and negative impact on members of subordinate groups” (Kendall, 2014, p. 287). One should also single out that in this case institutional discrimination is carried out by those individuals who fulfil policies or procedures established by organizations or communities. Intentional exclusion of black people from public accommodations, which has been characteristic of the past centuries, represents a perfect example of this kind of institutionalized discrimination. To mention indirect institutionalized discrimination, one should say that it “refers to practices that have a harmful effect on subordinate-group members even though the organizationally or community-prescribed norms or regulations guising these actions were initially established with no intent to harm [those members]” (Kendall, 2014, p. 288). The establishment of special education classes serves as a good example for this type of institutionalized discrimination. In fact, they were originally planned to provide some extra opportunities for receiving good education for defective children with different kinds of disabilities, who were not able to be satisfactorily taught by teachers in the ordinary public schools. Not looking at this fact, some critics claimed that these educational programs aimed at contributing to racial segregation in numerous school districts (Kendall, 2014, p. 288). In connection with institutional race discrimination, one should also touch upon the subject of reverse discrimination. The notions are in fact interrelated and interdependent due to the fact that reverse discrimination performs the role of a ruse, which is used to draw away people’s attention from the serious problems connected with institutionalized discrimination that still exist in some changed forms of institutional behavior. The charge of reverse discrimination is a reaction to certain affirmative action programs that more particularly have influence upon white men. Nevertheless, in the definitive scheme of things, white people’s suffering is rather small compared to that scale of suffering from institutionalized discrimination, peculiar to people of color. Kendall insists on that “various types of racial and ethnic discrimination call for divergent remedies if we are to reduce discriminatory actions and practices in contemporary social life” (2014, p. 288). It becomes evident that there are various ways of perception of people with distinguishing appearance. The scope of this perception may be different as well. However, there are cases when racial or ethnic discrimination becomes institutionalized. In such a way, governments and organizations encourage individual racism as well, which may intensify social inequality and racial segregation that apparently still exists in today’s world. Power in this case is a necessary precondition because of the fact that it mostly depends on the ability of institutions to give or refuse to provide some people with social benefits, or services and opportunities on the grounds of their racial background or national origin, which therefore results in racial inequalities. Reference List Kendall, D. (2014). Sociology in Our Times. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 704 p. Print. Randall, V. R. (2008). What is Institutional Racism? Retrieved 29 Oct. 2015 from: http://academic.udayton.edu/race/2008electionandracism/raceandracism/racism02.htm#_edn3 Smedley, A. (1997). Origin of the idea of race. Retrieved 29 Oct. 2015 from: http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02-09.htm Read More