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What is Systemic Racism?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2025

Aaron M. Griffith
Aaron M. Griffith*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Affiliate Faculty in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies College of William and Mary, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Black K-12 students are four times more likely to receive out-of-school suspension than their white peers; housing lenders are more likely to offer black homebuyers subprime loans even when they qualify for prime loans; employers call back candidates for interviews with ‘white-sounding’ names 50 per cent more often than candidates with ‘black-sounding’ names. All these are said to be examples of systemic racism. But what does it mean to say that racism is systemic? Using the tools of social ontology, this article explores the various ways in which social systems can be racist.

Keywords

injusticeracismsystemicinstitutions
Type
Research Article
Information
Think , Volume 23 , Issue 68 , Autumn 2024 , pp. 79 - 87
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of Philosophy

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