Aside from the racist people minorities might have to put up with, there is also a great deal of institutional racism in American society and elsewhere throughout the world. Institutional racism can be even more insidious, because it is more pervasive and often harder to overcome.

What is institutional racism?

Institutional racism describes the biases that are baked into a particular system or organization that favors one group of people over another. These biases are often subtle, but cumulatively amount to a substantial headwind facing minorities.

Examples of institutional racism

Institutional forms of racism are happening right underneath our noses, yet we’re often not aware of it. “When white terrorists bombed a black church and five black children were killed, the act was widely deplored by most members of American society,” write Thompson & Hickey. “In that same community, however, when 500 black babies die each year because of a lack of proper food, shelter, and medical facilities, few whites see any connection between these deaths and racial discrimination.” (2008, p. 266)

In order to gain admission at Harvard, Asian-American students “have to score an average of 140 points higher on the SAT than white students, 270 points higher than Hispanic students, and 450 points higher than African-American students.” (Katzman & Cohen, 2017)

Racism in employment

Minority groups face structural racism in the job market. In the early 2000s, a group of economists sent out fictitious resumes to employers, and found that those with “white sounding” names like Emily and Greg got 50% more callbacks than those with “African-American-sounding” names like Lakisha and Jamal. (Semuels, 2020)

A meta-analysis that looked at 30 different studies conducted between 1989 and 2015 found the hiring bias against African Americans hasn’t changed much in 25 years. The studies tested how employers reacted to qualified candidates of different races and ethnicities in staged resumes and interviews. All told, 55,842 applicants were analyzed. “Even for well-intentioned employers who think about treating all applicants the same, bias is entering into their decisions,” says lead researcher Lincoln Quillian. (Simons, 10-4-2017)

As a result of these things, minorities can face discrimination in the job market. This may be one of the reasons why the black unemployment rate is twice as high as white unemployment. (Macionis, 2009, p. 320)