Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is defined as policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization and that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some
people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, education and political representation.1
The term institutional racism was first coined in 1967 by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V.
Hamilton in Black Power: The
Politics of Liberation.2 Carmichael and
Hamilton wrote in 1967 that, while individual racism is often identifiable because of its overt nature, institutional racism is less perceptible because of its "less overt, far more subtle" nature. Institutional racism "originates in the operation of established and respected forces in the society, and thus receives far less public condemnation than individual racism".3
Institutional racism was defined by Sir William Macpherson in the UK's Lawrence report (
1999) as: "The collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to
people because of their color, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes, and behavior that amount to discrimination through prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and
racist stereotyping, which disadvantage minority ethnic
people.
