Institutional discrimination is the unequal rights and opportunities
for minority groups that have been built into the rules and norms of
society and institutions. A lot of the problems of institutional
discrimination started with the founding fathers, even though our
country was allegedly built on the prospects of equality and freedom.
The Declaration of Independence says that “All men are created equal”
yet this did not include women, poor people, or anyone who wasn’t white.
Minority groups in the United States are negatively stereotyped, like
the assumption that anyone on Welfare is too lazy to find a job and is
taking advantage of government help, or that all Muslims are terrorists.
This sort of discrimination affects minorities around the U.S. in many
ways, from the racial profiling attempted by SB 1070, to denying
homosexuals from legal marriage.
What stereotypes and ideologies promote
this type of discrimination?
