Structural discrimination

{{Short description|Form of institutional discrimination}}

{{Discrimination sidebar|expanded=Forms}}

Structural discrimination is a form of institutional discrimination against individuals of a given protected characteristic, such as race, gender, caste, which has the effect of restricting their opportunities. It may be either intentional or unintentional, and it may involve either public or private institutional policies.{{Cite journal |last1=Angermeyer |first1=Matthias C. |last2=Matschinger |first2=Herbert |last3=Link |first3=Bruce G. |last4=Schomerus |first4=Georg |title=Public attitudes regarding individual and structural discrimination: Two sides of the same coin? |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=103 |pages=60–66 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.11.014|pmid=24507911 |year=2014 }} Such discrimination occurs when these policies have disproportionately negative effects on the opportunities of certain social groups.{{cite journal|last1=PINCUS|first1=F. L.|title=Discrimination Comes in Many Forms: Individual, Institutional, and Structural|journal=American Behavioral Scientist|date=1 November 1996|volume=40|issue=2|pages=186–194|doi=10.1177/0002764296040002009}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.nap.edu/read/10887/chapter/7#63 |title=Measuring Racial Discrimination |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |year=2004 |editor-last=Blank |editor-first=Rebecca M. |page=63|doi=10.17226/10887 |isbn=978-0-309-09126-8 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Corrigan |first1=Patrick W. |last2=Watson |first2=Amy C. |last3=Heyrman |first3=Mark L. |last4=Warpinski |first4=Amy |last5=Gracia |first5=Gabriela |last6=Slopen |first6=Natalie |last7=Hall |first7=Laura L. |date=2005-05-01 |title=Structural Stigma in State Legislation |journal=Psychiatric Services |volume=56 |issue=5 |pages=557–563 |doi=10.1176/appi.ps.56.5.557 |pmid=15872164 |issn=1075-2730}}

Some conceptualizations of structural discrimination focus on past forms of discrimination that have resulted in present-day inequality, while others focus on policies that still exist today and can have disproportionately negative effects on minority groups.{{cite journal|last1=Pager|first1=D|last2=Shepherd|first2=H|title=The Sociology of Discrimination: Racial Discrimination in Employment, Housing, Credit, and Consumer Markets.|journal=Annual Review of Sociology|date=1 January 2008|volume=34|pages=181–209|pmid=20689680|pmc=2915460|doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.33.040406.131740}} One overt past example of structural discrimination was Jim Crow laws in the Southern United States, which were explicitly aimed at limiting the rights of black Americans in education, employment, and other areas of society.