Definition of Environmental Racism
(noun) A type of racism perpetrated by the disproportionate location of environmental hazards near economically and socially disadvantaged areas.
Environmental Racism Pronunciation
Syllabification: en·vi·ron·men·tal rac·ism
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /in-vie-ruhn-mEnt-l rAY-siz-uhm/
- British English – /in-vie-ruhn-mEntl rAY-si-zuhm/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ɪnˌvaɪrənˈmɛntəl ˈreɪˌsɪzəm/
- British English – /ɪnˌvaɪərənˈmɛntl ˈreɪsɪzm/
Usage Notes
- Plural: environmental racisms
- Environmental sociology studies environmental racism.
Related Video
Additional Information
- Word origin of “environmental” and “racism” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Brown, Phil. 2007. Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Bullard, Robert. 2000. Dumping in Dixie. 3rd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview.
- Kroll-Smith, Steve, and Hugh H. Floyd. 1997. Bodies in Protest: Environmental Illness and the Struggle over Medical Knowledge. New York: New York University Press.
- Popular Press and Blogs:
Related Terms
- affirmative action
- bigotry
- discrimination
- environment
- environmental sociology
- economics
- hate crime
- prejudice
- power
- racism
- white privilege
Works Consulted
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Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.
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Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Environmental Racism
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “environmental racism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved May 29, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/environmental-racism/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
environmental racism. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/environmental-racism/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “environmental racism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/environmental-racism/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“environmental racism.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 29 May. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/environmental-racism/>.