institutional discrimination

Examples of institutional discrimination in the following topics:

• Institutional Prejudice or Discrimination

  • Institutionalized discrimination refers to discrimination embedded in the procedures, policies or objectives of large organizations.
  • These practices are embedded in the operating procedures, policies, laws, or objectives of large organizations, such as governments and corporations, financial institutions, public institutions and other large entities.
  • Though direct discrimination is illegal by United States law, many academics, activists, and advocacy organizations assert that indirect discrimination is still pervasive in many social institutions and daily social practices.
  • Institutionalized discrimination often exists within governments, though it can also occur in any other type of social institution, including religion, education and marriage.
  • Examine the legal cases that had an impact on institutional discrimination

• Homophobia

  • Homophobia, or the fear of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, is often the impetus for discrimination, which can be expressed through either institutional or informal means.
  • Institutional discrimination involves the state apparatus.
  • If homophobic discrimination is institutional, it means either that non-heterosexual sex acts are criminalized or that LGBTQ individuals are denied the same legal rights as heterosexuals.
  • Although non-heterosexual sex acts are legal in the United States, LGTBQ people still face institutional discrimination because they are not afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples.
  • Many instances of homophobia and discrimination occur by informal means.

• Discrimination Against Individuals

  • Controversial attempts have been made to redress negative effects of discrimination.
  • It may manifest on every level of social life, from minor disregard or intense hostility in interpersonal interactions to much larger instantiations in public institutions (also called structural or institutional discrimination), such as the segregatory practices prominent in the Jim Crow era of the Unites States (1870s-1960s).
  • Unfair discrimination usually follows the gender stereotypes held by a society.
  • Reverse discrimination may also be used to highlight the discrimination inherent in affirmative action programs.
  • Give an example of discrimination and reverse discrimination using examples of religious, gender, or racial prejudice

• Differential Treatment by Age or Ageism

  • While most people are aware of the mistreatment of the elderly (see below), few people seem to realize that young people are often subjected to discrimination because of their age.
  • Discrimination against young people is primarily in the area of behavioral restrictions, often by parents, but also in public places like malls and stores.
  • While the above are clear examples of discrimination, there are other restrictions placed on young people based on the assumption that they are unable to make decisions for themselves.
  • Young people are also stereotyped as being both amusing, but at the same time potentially dangerous and disturbing.It is stereotypes like these that translate into the discrimination toward young people described above, and the concerted efforts of social institutions and groups to "tame," "train," or "civilize" youthful self-expression by enforcing existing social norms.
  • While discrimination toward the young is primarily behavioral restrictions, discrimination toward the elderly ranges from behavioral restrictions to the realm of physical abuse.

• Racism

  • Racism is the belief that different traits of racial groups are inherent and justify discrimination.
  • Racism is the belief that different inherent traits in racial groups justify discrimination.
  • The United Nations uses a definition of racist discrimination laid out in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination adopted in 1965:
  • Racism may be expressed individually and consciously, through explicit thoughts, feelings, or acts, or socially and unconsciously, through institutions that promote inequalities among races.
  • An example of structural racism can be seen in recent research on workplace discrimination.

• Inequalities of Work

  • Women are frequently treated unequally at work, often through sexual harassment and/or wage discrimination.
  • Despite flooding the workplace since the 1970s and 1980s, women still face many institutional challenges to equality in the workplace.
  • However, inequalities in the workplace typically refer to institutional barriers placed in the way of professional success for women.
  • Beyond sexual harassment, the most obvious instance of inequality in the workplace is wage discrimination.
  • The term refers to institutional barriers for which there is little hope for legal redress and, thus, appear to be as invisible as glass but that nevertheless limit the rise of women in the workplace.

• Affirmative Action

  • The impetus towards affirmative action is to redress the disadvantages associated with overt historical discrimination.
  • Further impetus is a desire to ensure that public institutions, such as universities, hospitals, and police forces, are more representative of the populations they serve.
  • Other opponents of affirmative action call it reverse discrimination, saying affirmative action requires the very discrimination it is seeking to eliminate.
  • Other opponents say affirmative action causes unprepared applicants to be accepted in highly demanding educational institutions or jobs which result in eventual failure.
  • Regents that public universities (and other government institutions) could not set specific numerical targets based on race for admissions or employment.

• Job Discrimination

  • Despite legal protections, job discrimination against women still exists in the workplace.
  • However, inequalities in the workplace typically refer to institutional barriers placed in the way of professional success for women.
  • Beyond sexual harassment, the most obvious instance of inequality in the workplace is wage discrimination.
  • List the forms of discrimination that women may face on the job

• Minorities

  • This is especially true in situations where the institutions of the dominant culture initiate programs to assimilate or integrate minority cultures.
  • An example of a minority population discriminating against a majority population is seen in the racial apartheid that existed until just recently in South Africa.
  • South Africans of European descent (the minority) discriminated against the majority African population (the majority).
  • Additional examples of minorities discriminating against majorities include two instances of colonial rule:
  • Racial discrimination is and has been official government policy in many countries.

• Women as a Minority

  • Underlying this unequal treatment of women is sexism, which is discrimination based on sex -- in the context of a patriarchal society, discrimination against women in particular.
  • Discrimination against women is evident in a number of different spheres of society, whether political, legal, economic, or familial.
  • It should be noted that gender discrimination also ties in with race and class discrimination -- a concept known as "intersectionality," first named by feminist sociologist Kimberlé Crenshaw.
  • In economics, the term "glass ceiling" refers to institutional barriers that prevent minorities and women from advancing beyond a certain point in the corporate world, despite their qualifications and successes.
  • In 1979, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for legal implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.