Table of Contents
Definition of Institutional Discrimination
(noun) Discriminatory policies and practices favorable to a dominant group and unfavorable to another group that are systematically embedded in the existing structure of society in the form of norms.
Examples of Institutional Discrimination
- legalized slavery
- voter suppression
Institutional Discrimination Pronunciation
Syllabification: in·sti·tu·tion·al dis·crim·i·na·tion
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /in-stuh-tOO-shuhn-l di-skrim-uh-nAY-shuhn/
- British English – /in-sti-tyOO-shuh-nuhl dis-krim-i-nAY-shuhn/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˌɪnstɪˈtuʃənəl dɪˌskrɪməˈneɪʃən/
- British English – /ˌɪnstɪˈtjuːʃən(ə)l dɪsˌkrɪmɪˈneɪʃən/
Usage Notes
- Plural: institutional discriminations
- Institutional discrimination is not always intentional. An example of unintentional institutional discrimination is school funding based on property taxes. More affluent areas will have higher property taxes and thus more funding is funneled to local schools and those students receive an unequal advantage compared to students in other areas. However, an argument can be made this is institutional discrimination as the State did not take steps to mitigate the issue.
- Institutional discrimination is contrasted to individual discrimination.
- Types:
- institutional racism
- institutional sexism
Related Quotation
- “Some bureaucracies perpetuate inequalities of race, class, and gender because this form of organizational structure creates a specific type of work or learning environment. This structure was typically created for middle- and upper-middle-class white men, who for many years were the predominant organizational participants” (Kendall 2011:194).
Related Videos
Additional Information
- Word origin of “institutional” and “discrimination” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Katznelson, Ira. 2005. When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth Century America. New York: Norton.
Related Terms
Reference
Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
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Cite the Definition of Institutional Discrimination
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “institutional-discrimination.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 25, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/institutional-discrimination/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
institutional-discrimination. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/institutional-discrimination/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “institutional-discrimination.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/institutional-discrimination/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“institutional-discrimination.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/institutional-discrimination/>.