INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

Institutional Racism

Institutional Racism

Analysis of the Newspaper Article

This paper provides an analysis of an article written by Andy Dangerfield and published in BBC News. In this article Dangerfield highlights the problem of Institutional Racism in NHS. Race and racism are terms with considerable political importance, yet they are more difficult to define than may appear at first blush. Over the past few centuries, the meaning, and manifestation, of both terms has undergone a gradual transformation. Race, initially seen as group-based differences rooted in biology, is now seen by most scholars as a social construction. Some even suggest that it will be impossible to sustain the concept of race much longer. Racism has undergone a similar change, transitioning from overt acts of race-based discrimination to more subtle forms of racial exclusion. For example, political scientists have expanded the definition of racism to include institutionally-based forms of discrimination in which the policies and practices of institutions, rather than the actions of specific individuals, function to maintain, or even exacerbate, racial inequalities. This has led to an era of what some refer to as colour-blind racism or racism without racists. In essence, scholars from this tradition argue that racism can now operate on autopilot (i.e., without the active or wilful intervention of individuals). (Tomlinson 2002, 88-89)

According to Dangerfield (2012) about just 1percent of NHS CEO's are of BME background. More than 44 percent of workers are from Black and Minorities Ethnic (BME) groups in London, but out of 31, only 01 primary care trusts has a CEO from a BME background. Sometimes known as systemic racism, institutional racism is a type of racism which happens in institutions for example Healthcare, hospitals, public bodies and corporations. The suggestion underlying the phrase is that in the organisations affected, there exists a culture in which employees at all levels understand that racist language and practices will be acceptable because they are known to have the tacit approval of those at the helm. (Dangerfield, 2012)

Andy Dangerfield (2012) quotes Hari Sewell who has been an executive director of Camden & Islington NHS Trust that such a little figures of BME representation in NHS show the issues. The notion of institutional racism raises fundamental, analytical questions for social science and, therefore, for its application to the police. We are used to thinking about individuals acting but not institutions. Individuals are conscious: they can reason, change their minds and act in ways that have a deliberate or unintended effect on others, including racial discrimination. We can identify the outcomes of individual action and, if needs be, measure them. Institutions seem to be different and elusive when we assess them against these criteria. (Lago 2005, 152-153)

Furthermore, the notion of 'racism' is contested: it infers that people (and institutions) discriminate negatively on the grounds of race, but other criteria (demeanour, skin colour, custom, social class, for example) may be as or more relevant. For example, how can we know if 'race' is the major criterion used when an institution acts? And ...