Institutional Prejudice or Discrimination
Source: Boundless. “Institutional Prejudice or Discrimination.” Boundless Sociology.
Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014.
www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/race-andethnicity-10/prejudice-and-discrimination-82/institutional-prejudice-or-discrimination478-6773/
Institutionalized discrimination refers to discrimination embedded in the procedures,
policies or objectives of large organizations.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Argue why the U.S. real estate market might be set up to encourage institutional
discrimination
 Examine the legal cases that had an impact on institutional discrimination
KEY POINTS
 Usually institutional bias targets specific, easily stereotyped and generalizable
attributes of individuals, such as race and gender.
 Institutionalized discrimination often exists within governments, though it can
also occur in any other type of social institution including religion, education
and marriage.
 The achievement gap in education is an example of institutionalized
discrimination.
 Many countries around the world practice some form of institutionalized
discrimination. For example, in some countries women cannot vote, drive or
work certain jobs.
TERMS
The observed and persistent disparity between the performance of groups of students
defined by gender, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, based on a number of
educational measures.
 institutionalized discrimination
The unfair, indirect methods of treatment of individuals that are embedded in the
operating procedures, policies, laws or objectives of large organizations.
EXAMPLES[ Housing in the United States is valued differently based on the racial
makeup of the neighborhood. There can be two identical houses, by factors like
amenities and size, but the assessed value of each house can depend on the racial
makeup of the people within the community. Homeowners therefore have an incentive
to prevent minorities from moving into white neighborhoods. Institutionalized
discrimination within the housing market also includes practices like redlining and
mortgage discrimination.
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Institutionalized discrimination refers to the unfair, indirect treatment of certain
members within a group. 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.
Usually the bias targets specific, easily stereotyped and generalizable attributes, such as
race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation and age. 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.
Examples
Examples of institutionalized discrimination include laws and decisions that reflect
racism, such as the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court case, which ruled in
favor of "separate but equal" public facilities between African Americans and non
African Americans. This ruling was later rescinded in 1954 by the Brown vs. Board of
Education Supreme Court decision.
Institutionalized discrimination often exists within governments, though it can also
occur in any other type of social institution, including religion, education and marriage.
For example, residential segregation is a product of discrimination that exists in the
private real estate market. Housing in the United States can be valued differently based
on the racial makeup of the neighborhood. There can be two identical houses, in terms
of factors like amenities and size, but the value of each house can depend on the racial
makeup of the people within the community. Homeowners would therefore have an
incentive to prevent minorities from moving into white neighborhoods. Institutionalized
discrimination within the housing market also includes practices like redlining and
mortgage discrimination.
The achievement gap in education is another example of institutionalized
discrimination. The achievement gap refers to the observed disparity in educational
measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by
gender, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. This disparity include standardized
test scores, grade point average, dropout rates and college enrollment and/or completion
rates.
International Examples
Many countries around the world exhibit some form of institutionalized discrimination,
such as Saudi Arabia where women and other oppressed groups cannot participate in
some religious activities, and can neither vote nor work in government.