Institutionalized Discrimination - Spillover Effects

Spillover Effects

Institutionalized discrimination also exists in institutions aside from the government such as religion, education and marriage among many other. Routines that encourage the selection over one individual over another such as hiring only people you know for a job or making selections based on seniority are both examples of institutionalized discrimination. This phenomenon occurs unintentionally at times. In the article “Discrimination and Affirmative Action”, Dr. Jan Garrett gives the example of a boss who requests his employees to recommend any individuals who are qualified for a job in the corporation. The employees will probably automatically think of someone close to them, often of the same race and ethnic group and gender. A hiring decision such as this has the potential to perpetuate racial and gender inequality in the workplace. Because the employees and the employer probably do not even consider race or gender being an issue in hiring, their discrimination is unintentional.

Thomas Shapiro’s The Hidden Cost of Being African American addresses many of the problems faced by African Americans in the United States and how their current social and economic situations compare to one another. These issues include the racial wealth gap between blacks and whites, assets and education. One chapter spends a significant amount of discussion focusing on why people choose to live where they live. Sociologist James Jasper argues Americans tend to identify with those about is in status because that is how we want to see ourselves, and that moving to a different, better neighborhood is linked to status. Where one lives also depends where their children attend school. About 50 percent of educational funding comes from property taxes. Problems arise when individuals are not able to achieve the “American Dream” because they run into institutional barriers in which they cannot control.

A major barrier in social equality for the United States is residential segregation. Housing in the United States is valued differently based on the racial makeup of the neighborhood. There can be two identical houses in terms of amenities and size but the value of each house depends on the racial makeup of the people within the community. Once about 20 percent of the homeowners in a neighborhood are black, in two years, the entire neighborhoods will be black. This phenomenon occurs because of tactics like blockbusting, a method where real estate agents survey white homeowners in an area. After persuading them that the neighborhood is about to be infiltrated by a minority community the homeowners will leave the area. This is called white flight. Institutionalized discrimination exist within the actual housing system including redlining and mortgage discrimination.