Forms of Racism and Social Constructs

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering forms of racism, institutional and systemic inequality, socio-psychological biases, and group dynamics.

Prejudice

One person discriminating against another person because of their race.

Racism

Prejudice combined with power, allowing it to shape institutions and systems; often summarized as 'racism = prejudice + power.'

Institutional Racism

Racial inequality caused by the policies and practices of a specific organization, like a school, police department, or bank, even when no individual intends to discriminate.

Systemic Racism

Racial inequality built into society as a whole, where many institutions (housing, education, policing, healthcare, and the economy) connect and reinforce each other to keep certain groups disadvantaged.

Active Racism

Deliberately doing or saying racist things, such as using slurs, telling racist jokes, refusing to hire someone due to race, or supporting openly racist policies.

Passive Racism

Going along with racism without actively causing it, by staying silent, not questioning it, or benefiting from it without challenging it.

Structural Racism

Racial inequality built into the foundation of society through history, laws, and culture, ensuring it continues even when no one is actively trying to discriminate.

The Pattern of Black Oppression: ORAAP

A recurring cycle comprising Institutionalized Oppression, Black/African American Resistance, Public Awakening/Federal Action, a Period of Advancement, and Pushback leading to Re-Institutionalized Oppression.

Myth of Black Male Criminalization

The belief that Black men (and also Black women) are inherently more dangerous, violent, or suspicious than white men (or white women).

Myth of Meritocracy

The belief that through hard work alone, an individual can achieve the American Dream, implying that existing racial gaps occur because Black Americans do not work hard enough.

Racial Cues

A visible trait or characteristic linked to an applied social characteristic (for example, equating more melanin with danger).

Racial Scripts

The stereotype or narrative constructed around certain racial cues and identities.

Conventional Wisdom

Beliefs and understandings learned through socialization (family, friends, religion) and media (TV, film, literature).

Ultimate Attribute Error

A cognitive bias where negative actions by outgroup members are generalized to the whole group, while negative actions by ingroup members are viewed as isolated individuals.

Linked Fate

The belief that what happens to your racial group as a whole affects your own life, tying individual fate directly to the group's fate.

Subjective Uncertainty

The condition occurring when people lack enough information to judge someone, leading them to fill the knowledge gaps with group stereotypes.

Doctrine of Discovery

A framework giving justification for Catholic nations to claim lands, informing European notions of discovery and land rights by viewing the world as underdeveloped to justify occupation.

Columbus Syndrome

When people of a dominant racial or cultural group claim they have discovered something that already existed elsewhere.

Selective Perception

Filtering and interpreting information in a way that rejects anything going against preexisting beliefs while storing confirming observations.

Cognitive Dissonance

The uncomfortable feeling experienced when encountering evidence or learning information that clashes with what one already believes.

Group Identity

An aggregate measure of three characteristics (assimilation, group consciousness, and group cohesion) measuring a subordinate or marginalized group's level of shared identity.

Assimilation

The process of cultural exchange and psychological change that results following the meeting between cultures.

Group Consciousness

An individual's sense of belonging to a particular group combined with the acknowledgment that this identification is politically important.

Group Cohesion

The condition achieved when members of a group share values and attitudes.

Model Minority

A stereotype characterizing a group as hardworking, intelligent, passive, or apolitical ('won't stir the pot').

Foreign Threat

A stereotype depicting a group as unwilling to assimilate, maintaining politically threatening attachments to their 'motherland,' or displacing White labor.

Conditional Whiteness

The granting of the privileges and status of 'whiteness' to certain marginalized groups or individuals only when it serves the interests of the dominant group.

White Privilege

The unearned advantages white people receive in a society shaped by racism simply because they are white, which are often invisible to those possessing them.