Societal racism

Societal racism is a term which refers to racist attitudes within a society It also been called structural racism, because society is structured in a way that excludes substantial numbers of people from minority backgrounds from taking part in social institutions.

According to Walter R. Allen, racism can be categorized into five types:

• overt racism, for example, when an individual says something racist;
• covert racism, which is also an individual phenomenon;
• institutional racism, which is when institutions treat people of different races differently;
• societal racism, and
• civilizational racism.

Andrew L. Barlow writes that the reason proposition 209 was passed in California was due to those supporting it being "successful in promoting the myth that societal racism no longer exists in California" George M. Fredrickson has written that societal racism is deeply embedded in American culture and that in the 18th century societal racism had already emerged with the purpose of maintaining a white dominated society. and that "societal racism does not require an ideology to sustain it so long as it was taken for granted"

Relationship to agency

Structure and agency are opposites. Agency is the idea that a person's life outcomes are due entirely, or almost entirely, to his own individual efforts. Social structure is the idea that life outcomes are significantly influenced by the individual's race, class, gender, social status, inherited wealth, legal situation, and many other factors that are outside the individual's control.

A society, even a "colorblind" society, can be structured in a way that perpetuates racism and racial inequality even if its individual members do not hold bigoted views about members of other racial groups. Society can still effectively exclude racially disadvantaged people from decision-making or make choices that have a disparate impact on them.