Everyday racism’s harm scales with the perpetrator’s authority
Evidence
Everyday racism adapts to the culture, norms, and values of a society as it operates through the prevalent structures of power in society. The more status or authority involved, the greater the damage resulting from commonsense prejudiced statements and discriminatory behavior. When members of parliament make discriminatory statements or sanction discriminatory policies in the course of their normal everyday duty, as politicians, the safety and civil rights of ethnic minorities and refugees are at stake. When teachers underestimate, discourage, or ignore ethnic minority children, the futures of ethnic minority generations are at stake. When employers discriminate against people of color, jobs, incomes, or career mobility are at stake as in the following example which my sister mentioned when we talked over the phone preceding my visit to South Africa. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1491
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- QUESTION: This suggests a framework for measuring racism’s societal impact by the institutional position of the actor — worth chasing how this scales in other national contexts.
- XREF: Connects to earlier notes on silence/authority dynamics and how institutional position amplifies harm — parallels social-control-of-trust patterns where authority substitutes for direct oversight.