Institutionalized Discrimination

Institutionalized discrimination refers to the unjust and discriminatory mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals by organizations such as governments and corporations, financial institutions (banks, investment firms, money markets), public institutions (schools, police forces, healthcare centers), and other societal entities. Such discrimination is typically codified into the operating procedures, policies, laws, or objectives of such institutions. Members of minority groups, i.e. populations of African descent in the U.S. or Gays and Lesbians internationally, are at a much higher risk of encountering these types of socio-structural disadvantage. Among the severe and long-lasting detrimental affects of institutionalized discrimination on affected populations are increased suicide rates, suppressed attainment of wealth and decreased access to health care.

Usually the bias targets specific, facile attributes including race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, and age. Though direct discrimination is legally iniquitous by United States law, scholarship in the social sciences and humanities typically concurs that it exists in some of the social institutions and practices carried out in every day life. Institutionalized discrimination prohibits the attainment of societal meritocracy.