Racism, Unintentional

Institutional Racism

In an institutional context, unintentional racism can occur where long-established practices originally designed to meet the needs of a homogeneous society damage the interests of minority racial groups. Institutional racism (or discrimination) refers to such practices inherent in social structures or organizations that consistently work against certain racial, ethnic, or gender groups. Examples might be the continued use of exclusively White faces in the illustrations in school textbooks (which might affect the self-image of Black children), or the policy of giving priority in job applications to the children of existing employees (which might disadvantage the job prospects of immigrants). The practices may have been well-intentioned when first established, but unreflective adherence to them as society becomes more multiracial means that racial minorities are denied access to the full range of opportunities taken for granted by the White majority.

Paternalistic Decision Making

Another form of unintentional racism occurs when the freedom of racial or ethnic minorities is defined or restricted by generally well-intentioned regulations that are drawn up by the White majority working for the [Page 1120]minorities rather than with them. This has sometimes been called “paternalistic racism,” implying that White people think they have the right to interfere in the lives of Blacks for their own good and the power to define that good. Paternalistic racism differs from institutional racism in that it involves the initiation of new practices and procedures in response to the presence of racial and ethnic minorities, whereas institutional racism involves the failure to adapt long-standing practices and procedures to new needs.

Paternalistic racism can be seen in some forms of positive discrimination and tokenism, particularly where these are intended as a way of defusing protest without tackling the underlying causes of racial injustice in society. It may sometimes be benign, as in the case of special funding that is set aside to meet the needs of underachieving children from minority groups. Whether the paternalism has a harmful outcome, however, and whether it is consciously used by White people to reinforce their own privilege, paternalistic racism can be viewed as oppressing racial minorities in two ways: It denies them the freedom to determine for themselves the pattern of their own future lives, and it implies (sometimes in a rather subtle way) the superiority of the White people who make the decisions.

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