Racist Oxford Dictionary Definition

The concepts of this definition, such as discrimination and racial superiority, are not always simple. Views on these concepts are often fluid and change over time with new social contexts and new ways of thinking. Very few people can be called “racists,” but anyone can behave or think in a racist or xenophobic way. As explained earlier, structural racism is deeply rooted in our society. As a result, ethnic minorities, especially those that are more visibly ethnic, suffer from everyday racism. This has a huge impact on their lives. It permeates all areas of life and is difficult to question, so in some ways it can have a greater impact than the obvious forms of racism. However, Kennedy Mitchum, 22 and fresh out of college, wrote a message to Merriam-Webster`s editors asking them to expand the definition to reflect usage, which has changed even beyond definition 2.0 to refer to “social and institutional power.” Mitchum noted that racism is “a system of advantage based on skin color.” Other forms of racism may not be as obvious to those who are not affected by them. One example is redlining, where institutions such as banks and insurance companies refuse or restrict loans, mortgages, or insurance policies in certain geographic areas — usually neighborhoods where people of color live. Another example is racist profiling and mistreatment of people of colour by police.

The discussion of systemic racism often refers to statistics highlighting the prevalence of these practices. In the United States, for example, blacks are arrested and imprisoned more frequently. They are also, on average, less likely to be hired for jobs than white applicants, despite the fact that there are laws that prohibit racial consideration in the hiring process. Labor statistics also often show a pay gap between whites and non-whites, meaning people of color earn less if they do the same job. (Intersectionality theory is the idea that certain groups are subjected to multiple forms of systemic oppression—women of color, for example, regularly earn lower wages than others doing the same work.) The infant mortality rate of African Americans is often more than double that of white Americans and is one of the injustices often attributed to systemic racism. Racist was initially potentially applicable to other interpretations. Is the racist someone who belongs to a certain race? Or a supporter of people of other races? Or someone who draws attention to the existence of different races? Or does racism refer to politics? It is in the latter direction that things have gone. But in my idealized English, people would be biased, while a society would show racism.

Many people tend to view racism as blatant and obvious: racial slurs, slavery, Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, lynchings, and other violent hate crimes. But racism comes in many forms. Examples of racism implemented explicitly and institutionally in the United States include black codes, Jim Crow laws, and segregation that deprives African Americans of many basic rights and leads to substandard schools, housing, and access to employment – all inequalities that persist in one form or another. In South Africa, apartheid policies were used by white South Africans to economically and politically marginalize and oppress black South Africans and other non-white citizens. In Australia, Aborigines have been racially abused since the arrival of white settlers, and other indigenous peoples around the world have been oppressed under racist colonialism and imperialism. Like others, the Merriam-Webster dictionary has so far given us what we might call the 1.0 definition of racism, the one we would quote for the curious child. That is, what used to be called prejudice: “the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and abilities, and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority in a particular race.” Here, the definition focuses less on attitudes than on outcomes: social inequalities between whites and others are themselves called racism, a kind of shortcut for the racist attitude that causes inequality. This 3.0 definition of the word is now very influential, so much so that bestselling author and Atlantic contributor Ibram X.

Kendi calls all race-based social inequalities racism that should be fought. It`s a use of racism often acquired in university social science courses, and it`s fundamental to modern discussions about race and racism. For example, many people would argue that the fact that black students, on average, don`t perform as well as white students on standardized tests means that the tests are racist because they discriminate against black students. Racism and racism appear to be words of recent origin, although no quotations are currently known to suggest that these words were used before the beginning of the 20th century. But the fact that the words are entirely new does not prove that the concept of racism did not exist in the distant past. Things can have words to describe them before they exist (the spaceship, for example, has been in use since the 19th century, long before rocket-fired ships were invented), and things can exist for a considerable amount of time before receiving names (the T-shirt doesn`t appear printed until the 20th century, although the garment existed before 1900). Dictionaries are often treated as the final arbiter in disputes over the meaning of a word, but they are not always well suited to dispute resolution. The role of the lexicographer is to explain how words are (or have been) actually used, not how some think they should be used, and they say nothing about the intrinsic nature of the thing named or described by a word, let alone what it can mean to individuals. Therefore, when discussing concepts such as racism, it`s wise to realize that quoting a dictionary is unlikely to appease or convince the person you`re arguing with.

The legal definition of racial discrimination does not only include “race” in the sense described here. People of any colour, nationality and ethnic or national origin are protected from racial discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. These include predominantly white Scots, although they are unlikely to need this protection as they are generally not at risk of discrimination. Hate crime legislation defines race in the same way. Is racism a belief, a pattern of behaviour or a system? Racism is certainly based on the belief that certain groups of people are inferior. Racist people dehumanize these groups by treating them as subhuman, often through the use of racist language. In this way, racism prevents people from seeing others as individuals. But those advocating recognition of the systemic nature of racism often find that referring to racism as a mere belief ignores these actions taken because of that belief and the supposed oppression embedded in such systems. The editors of Merriam-Webster are working on a revision of the definition of racism.

The Great Awakening even goes so far as to change the dictionary? Not quite – social policy has long since pushed the use of the word racism beyond the dictionary definition, and it`s high time our dictionaries got the message. Anti-racist movements such as the civil rights movement, the movement to end apartheid, and those led by organizations like Black Lives Matter strive to replace racism and injustice with justice. As these efforts continue, the many terms used in the discussion of racism will certainly evolve. The word racist can be used as a noun meaning a racist person, or as an adjective meaning “from or the promotion of racism”, as in racist ideology or racist comments. If it were up to me – which I will not do – we would allow racism to now refer to a social state and prejudices to revive to refer to attitude prejudices. After all, prejudice was once the word of choice for racial bias. Racism did not take over until around 1970, with a sharp increase after 1980. Meet Sammy Davis Jr. mocked Archie Bunker at All in the Family in 1972.

Note that his use of prejudice is now ancient; The word today would be racist: structural racism cannot be fought simply by telling people that it is wrong to be racist. It cannot be managed by “diversity” events, which often reinforce perceptions of racial differences and stereotypes. To end racism, we must become anti-racist as a society. It means changing the way we think and act and being willing to challenge others to do the same. Extending a word`s definition of a personal characteristic to a society is not uncommon in itself. The transition from racism 1.0 to racism 2.0 follows a line of metaphorical reasoning that is already common among Greek philosophers who treat societies as individuals in the macrocosm. The conceptual stage between a healthy person and a healthy society is short, as is the conceptual stage between a racist person and a racist society. Sexist replaced chauvinists around the same time racists were prejudiced, and for the same reason – powerful terms need to be refreshed, especially when heavily used. This is why white supremacy increasingly mitigates racism. It was only a matter of time, and dictionaries had to be up to date. But the step is only short if the idea is always that discrimination at the door is the essence of racism.

The shift from racism 2.0 to racism 3.0 is less typical of language change. The use of 3.0 implies that it is natural to label racial inequality as “racism” because it is undeniable that racial differences are shaped by biased barriers. For example, many argue that blacks lag behind whites in health indices because they do not have adequate access to health care and supermarkets. The term racism is often applied to a case like this, even when white bias is not, or no longer, the cause of inequality.