Examples Of Institutional Racism

Institutional Racism Over the last century, America has taken legislative action to prevent acts of racism and discrimination from penetrating society. Laws such as the 1964 civil rights act were established to provide equal treatment to all, regardless of race, gender or ethnic background. In 1954 the Supreme court ruled on the case, “Brown V Board of Education” stating “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” (History - Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment, 2016: p2). While these laws eliminated many forms of segregation and racism, tension between minority and majority dominant groups still remains in American society.

This type of prejudice happens in different forms, such as, when workers from minority groups suffer from harassment or lack the capability to apply for a job that supplies decent wages and employment benefits. Harassment is not a new issue surrounding minority workers, as seen during the civil rights movement when the 1964 civil rights act was ratified to combat the effects of harassment in the workplace. However, reports show that harassment is still prevalent among workers with different racial backgrounds “In 2000, the EEOC reported the results of a study of workplaces in North Carolina that showed that accusations of racial harassment on the job nearly quadrupled between 1996 and 2000” (Racial Discrimination Law & Legal Definition, 2016). Examples of harassment include minorities who are barred from promotions due to their ethnicity, or racial slurs and ethnophaulisms in the form of verbal

A dual labor market occurs when there is a large differentiation between the price of labor for the same occupation. A primary job market provides wages and long-term benefits to employees, against a secondary market whose employees receive cash for their labor in an “under the table” manner “Workers Enjoy decent wages, pay payroll taxes, and receive health insurance and other benefits, compared to the secondary labor market, in which minorities, mostly, work in unregulated low-paying jobs, usually on a cash basis with no payroll tax deductions, health insurance, or other benefits” (Parrillo, 2014: p101). Conflicts arise when dominant groups, holding superior paying jobs, accuse the minority groups for undercutting labor wages “Today's legal frameworks do not adequately capture the form of discrimination lurking in the interplay between brown collar workers accepting the jobs no one else will take and employers seeking subservient workers. That inadequacy is a direct consequence of the law and economics” (Saucedo, 2006: p962). Typically, those holding the lower paying jobs are from different ethic minorities who do not understand the complicated economic system. Employers use this ignorance as an advantage to exploit these groups and keep the labor markets competitive and cheap. The current issues of harassment and ethnic antagonism demonstrate that minority groups still struggle to combat