What are the problems caused by institutional racism?

Answer 1

Institutional racism is a cruel part of many societies. As opposed to individual racism, that is one person discriminating against another because of race, institutional racism has a larger scope. It can best be described by example. In a corporation it can be seen perhaps that all employees at the management level are of one race, say Caucasian as an example. Openings for jobs occur due to retirement, firing, or business expansion. Year after year, and instance one after another shows that only Caucasians receive management jobs. With good authority it can be said that the company will not let any other employees but Caucasians ones to get these jobs no matter who else applies for these positions. The company has a "unwritten" policy to not hire minorities to management jobs. Thus the racism is institutionalized.

I used Caucasian as an example however it can exist with any other race or ethnic background.

Answer 2

Institutional racism causes many problems in any society where it exists. Using the term institutional usually infers that it is a "built in" type of problem that exists within many common organizations within a society. This is different from racism that is an individual personality problem, and not part of a larger scale situation.

The problems of institutional racism can be outlined in the following manner:

A. It causes unemployment among the group of people that the racism is directed to;

B. It causes the under employment of a segregated group as mentioned above;

C. It harms the society where it exists because the talents that the segregated group or groups have are not used. Any society that excludes potential contributions from minority groups deprives itself from that groups' talents and ideas;

D. It can cause civil unrest in the form of racial riots;

E. It can cause increased individual crime as the lack of employment opportunities may lead some of the affected persons to undertake criminal activities to gain money or goods;

E1. It can place pressure on correctional institutions to house convicted victims of race and of course this means that additional taxes are needed to support the prisons.

F. It causes a segment of society to be under educated which can lead to all the previously mentioned problems;

G. It can cause taxes to rise in order to fund welfare programs, many societies with institutional racism try to remedy it with welfare;and

H. It can cause health problems among the segregated groups who cannot now find proper medical care;

The above listings are grave situations and it can be seen that institutional racism not only hurts that are direct victims of racism but creates negatives within the society that allows different forms of institutional racism.