Generally, theories on contemporary race, political and social philosophy in their attempt to explain the actual meaning of racism,have alwaysfound themselves in contention. One of the central understanding by a group of philosophers is that racism is believed to exist in terms of psychosexual aversion, volition, and behavior(Pierce, 2014). The shared understanding of racism from all the concepts is the attempt to clearly explain the meaning of the racism that is experienced in individuals. The common knowledge, therefore, is what can be termed as micro-analysis of racism.
According to the second group of philosophers, racism has also been understood in institutional and structural terms, and the meaning derived being a power system that benefits some by disadvantaging the other(Bonilla-silva, 2015). The concepts advanced in this school of thought delves intoinstitutional and structural racism as opposed to individuals. The significant contribution by Joshua Glasgow in the growing literary work in this field of studycaptures the appropriate definition of structural racism as the idea of disrespect. The description that Glasgow offers outlines what is common between behavioral, cognitive and attitudinal racism dimensions. The understanding of structural racism is pegged on the knowledge of injustice.
The other standpoint of structural racism is evident when Benjamin Blaisdell explains how analysis of schools as racial spaces is essential in the examination of the duty of teachers in perpetuating structural racism(Blaisdell, 2016). Poverty, social policies that are not effective and inequitable access to resources are the rampant social injustices that affect people of color harshly in the United States of America.Public schools are affected equally by the structural racism, whereby insufficient allocation of resourcesand abject poverty influence negatively the academic success of the students of specific color(Riley, 2017). It is worth mentioning that high stakes testing and increased standardization have been the main drivers in the creation of an environment that is unfavorable to the marginalized students. The understanding by teachers of the degree of structural racism in their schools creates a chance to mitigate some of the institutional practices that causes disparity in races. The topical institutional racism changes our primary focus from individual motives to institutional practices and procedures(Series, 2004).
According to Blaisdell, structural view of racism is vital in explanation of influences outside the schools that mostly affects the students ofcolor. The continuous trend of segregation mainly based on transportation, housing and economic practices against people of color in the United States is well articulated by the legal CRT literature(Blaisdell, 2016).
Social science findings in over fifty years have indicated that economically poor and alienated neighborhoods limit employment for young adults, poor health and exposes young people to high rates of violence and criminal activities.Structural segregation was expressed in zoning codes for the suburbs and urban, racial covenants that were full of restrictions, investment, real estate, and lending and investment practicesthat discriminate in the private sector(Hardeman & Medina, 2018).
Historically, the youth of color have faced unfavorable outcomes compared with their fellow white counterparts, and the inequalities persist today.Even though the behavior is distinctly the leading cause of structural racism, it is not the sole contributor to it(Boyd, 2018). Moresignificant architectural influences contribute to racial differences between the white and the youth of color, and those factors require systematic and continuous attention. The logical structures that is available point out the historical and cultural factors that are responsible for allowing advantages that are associated with being white and the disadvantages related to color(Mesic et al., 2017).
The analytical framework indicates how practices that institutions adopt and public policies contribute to racial outcomes that are not equitable to all. The assumptions the structure lays out are deeply entrenched in culture and thus somehow validates the racial inequalities and focusing more on undermining the progress made towards racial equity(Pierce, 2014). The structural racism and youth development literature authors apply the framework of structural racism to the youth field and strictly focusing on cultural contexts, local institutions from which youths develop.Many youth organizations have engaged in efforts to find a lasting solution to the racial inequity challenge.
Regardless of heightened studies and interest on how socially motivated factors causes poor health results, most academics, scientists, political leaders and those that are responsible for defining public discourse remain silent in the identification of the central cause inequalities in national health. The equity and equality in Health journal clearly explain how structural racism is evident in the United States health sector (Mccluney, Schmitz, Hicken, & Sonnega, 2017).
Most studies done on racism and healthconcentrates on ethnic discrimination between individuals and not emphasizing enough onstructural racisminvestigation and effects on health. Theevidence which indicates structural racism relates to the current residential perception of Americans of color, and which is connected with air pollutantexposures, the rising danger of contracting deadly diseases, rampant homicide cases and the related crimes, quality of neighborhood, health care system, and shorter lifespan(Bailey et al., 2017).Biasness, discrimination, and racism between people of different races in the health sector can adversely interfere with good health since there will be a poor provision of health-care.
The disadvantages that are social-economic and under which health care systems functions and more specific private discrimination, willinfluence health-care quality systematically at neighborhood, access, andutilization. Socioeconomic disadvantages that are caused byinadequate investment in the systems in the public or other sectors makes it hard to get doctors to provide primary care, and medical experts in the neighborhoods inhabited by black people(Kundnani, 2007). The inequitable distribution of health care infrastructure limits the quality of medical facilities in black neighborhoods.
Annotated Bibliography
Bailey, Z. D., Krieger, N., Agénor, M., Graves, J., Linos, N., & Bassett, M. T. (2017). America : Equity and Equality in Health 3 Structural racism and health inequities in the USA : evidence and interventions. The Lancet, 389(10077), 1453–1463. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30569-X
Bailey examines the health effects of structural racism through two unique related methods that are stressed in the available literature, the private discrimination and access to quality healthcare. The source illuminates the elements of structural racism evident in the healthcare sector.
Blaisdell, B. (2016). Schools as racial spaces : understanding and resisting structural racism, 8398(February). http://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2015.1023228
Blaisdell explores schools as avenues of racial segregation and gives examples of schools as racial spaces whereby, he explains that whiteness controlled access. The highlight is on how structural understanding of races was important to the efforts and how to counter structural racism through analysis of racial spaces.
Bonilla-silva, E. (2015). Rethinking Racism : Toward a Structural Interpretation, 62(3), 465–480.
Bonilla examines the traditional approaches and alternative approaches to the study of racism and discusses the limitations of those approaches. The leads suggested by the alternative literature framework are his guiding light in the advancement of his fundamental theory of racism.
Boyd, R. W. (2018). Comment Police violence and the built harm of structural racism. The Lancet, 6736(18), 1–2. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31374-6
Boyd explores the less examined population and illustrates how police violence gives rise to population-level mental health inequality. Boyd’s in his overall contribution focuses on police violence and the built harm of structural racism.
Hardeman, R. R., & Medina, E. M. (2018). Structural Racism and Critical Race Theory : Contributions to Adolescent Health Inequities and Outcomes, 55–63. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97205-3
Herderman by reviewing critical race theory critically looks into racial and ethnic disparities in adolescent health. Through his literature work, Herderman focuses on structural racism, practices norms and institutional arrangements that create and maintain racialized outcomes on teenage health.
Kundnani, A. (2007). The End of Tolerance; Racism in 21st-Century Britain.
Kundani attempts to shed light on how global forces and intellectual currents relates to personal experiences and the impact it has on communities and families. The vivid analysis Kundani offers on the empirical and theoretical framework follows a grand tradition of the Institute of Race Relations.
Mccluney, C. L., Schmitz, L. L., Hicken, M. T., & Sonnega, A. (2017). Structural racism in the workplace: Does perception matter for health inequalities? Social Science & Medicine. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.05.039
Mccluney examines the linkage between racial health inequalities and structural racism through labor market thatis unequitable resulting in an imbalance in psychosocial workplace environments.
Mesic, A., Franklin, L., Cansever, A., Potter, F., Sharma, A., Knopov, A., & Siegel, M. (2017). Shootings at the State Level. Journal of the National Medical Association. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnma.2017.12.002
In this article, Mesic attempts to explain the black, white disparities and the state level structural segregation and the brutal police handling of unarmed victims.
Pierce, A. J. (2014). STRUCTURAL RACISM, INSTITUTIONAL AGENCY, AND DISRESPECT, 39. http://doi.org/10.5840/jpr20147218
Pierce examines the whole topic of structural racism in terms of injustice as opposed to disrespect. In his arguments, he indicates how beliefs, intentions, and actions of individuals can be given a full account and how those elements relate.
Riley, A. R. (2017). Neighborhood Disadvantage, Residential Segregation, and Beyond — Lessons for Studying Structural Racism and Health. http://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0378-5
Riley in his review synthesizes findings on the relevance of the neighborhood disadvantage and private discrimination to the actual study of health and structural racism. It draws recent literature in the proposition of its lessons of moving beyond traditional neighborhoods.
Series, W. P. (2004). Structural racism and youth development issues, challenges, and implications.
This series examines the structural racism framework and its application on the youth field while focusing on the local institution and cultural context where the youth develop. The literature achieves its objective by considering ways in which policies and practices in education, juvenile justice, and labor markets give rise to racially likely outcomes among the youth.
Do you need high quality Custom Essay Writing Services?