Give examples to illustrate your argument”. The Oxford English Dictionary describes racism as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a group or individual of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior”. It is significant when concerning oneself with the discussion of racism that a clear and concise distinction is made between the two different types of racism. Firstly there is individual racism.
It is defined by overt acts carried out by an individual which can, in extreme cases; result in the death of the victim immediately. However it can also cause destruction of property, assaults, and verbal abuse and intimidation. This specific type of racism is easily observed in the process of its commission and can be quantified. The second type of racism, institutional racism, is covert and much harder to identify. It is much harder to unearth the specific individual responsible for acts, and in some cases it is not a single individual but a group, or a system.
institutional racism is by no means less destructive and harmful to life than the first – it is just much harder to isolate cause and causer. Institutional racism does not receive the same condemning judgement as individual racism because it is often executed by established and respected forces in society, such as the police. An example of individual racism would be a white terrorist (the individual) planting a bomb in a black church which results in the death of five black children.
The Essay on Racism (Causes)
INTRODUCTION Racism and prejudice are a problem. They have existed for thousands of years and they are transmitted from generation to generation. However, racism have not always been the same, it have changed trough the history and every day it have become more sophisticated. DEFINITIONS Prejudice is any negative belief, feeling or action toward a specific group or its individual members. Racism ...
The majority of the world would consider this depraved and condemn the actor which carried it out. However, when in the same city, Birmingham, Alabama, 500 black babies die needlessly each year due to a tragic lack of health and medical facilities, shelter and food, and thousands more are deprived physically, emotionally and intellectually because of a fundamental flaw in the system that causes poverty and discrimination in the black community, it is due to a system that is institutionally racist and morally corrupt.
When a black family moves into a new home in a neighbourhood dominated by white people, and their home is consequently vandalised or the subject of arson attacks, it is deemed by people to be intolerable and racist. It is institutional racism when slum landlords and loan sharks pry on the black people trapped in decrepit tenements, and in some cases slums, where they have little chance of escaping their situation due to a system that has predetermined their failure and their second class status. Racism in this form is not kept to countries like the US and Britain, but more to the western world.
Society is either ignorant to its existence, unwilling or unable to do anything about it. Stokely Carmichael believes that the resistance towards any action that may permanently stamp out institutionalised racism stems from the fact that western society enjoys its luxury. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean. Neither more nor less”. “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things”. “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “who is to be master. That is all”.
This quote comes from Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. Those with the power to define are those with the power to rule. Moving away from the debate about western cultures as being institutionally racist as a whole, there are aspects within these cultures that are racist to their own citizens. Those with the power to define are those with positions of authority, such as the police. Cases such as Mark Duggan and Stephen Lawrence have opened people’s eyes to the fact that there is evidence to suggest that the police force is institutionally racist.
The Essay on People in Organisations
Introduction The purpose of this paper is to define the concept of Organisational Behaviour and identify the most important areas of the topic which considerably impact on organisational efficiency and effectiveness. Nowadays, due to the rapidly changing business environment, perceiving organisational behaviour is recognised as one of the most significant aspects of all business operations ( ...
On the other hand, individual racism cannot be examined in the same way due to the difference between the two. Where institutional racism is covered up and turned a blind eye to, individual racism can be easily recognised, and therefore not ignored, however much people would like to. The election of Barack Obama was seen as a victory over individual racism, when others view it as an insidious means as a way to continue to function in an institutionally racist society. Giddens would argue that individual racism is in itself an aspect or institutional racism.
An individual may himself hold racist views, which leads to him joining a white supremacist organisation which promotes its own racist agenda. The key difference between individual and institutional racism is their impact. While one may be a racist, and the things he says and does may have a horrible effect upon an individual or small group of people, the physical and emotional damage inflicted by a racist organisation burns so much deeper and lasts so much longer and causes much vaster extents of harm. One racist man can easily be stopped.
One racist organisation cannot be dealt with so easily. They may have no specific instigator and no specific person or group of people to be held accountable. When we talk of ‘white collar crime’ this is the worst form. In conclusion, although they may stem from the same time old prejudices and discriminatory practises, the two aforementioned types of racism, individual and institutional, manifest themselves in very different ways, both in the target groups and their instigators, and also in the way and place that they work and occur.
However, by definition they can both be grouped into one main category, which is systematic racism. Systematic racism forms the basis for both institutional and individual racism as it is the fundamental system of beliefs and values in place that are embedded into a society or an organisation that not only allows but supports racist occurrences taking place.
The Essay on The Individual Vs. The Group
THE INDIVIDUAL VS. THE GROUP The United States of America is considered a free country. It was founded on religious freedom, and the freedom of the individual that humanity deserves. We may be considered a free country but in reality we are many times not so free. We seem, in many ways, to have lost the individual freedoms that we were promised as a nation, or were we missing them from the start? ...
