Societal racism
[4] According to James Joseph Scheurich and Michelle D. Young, racism can be categorized into five types:[5] Structural racism is harder to detect because it requires data to be examined over time to determine how the set of institutional, historical, cultural, and interpersonal practices maintain racial inequalities over a period of time.
[10] When looking specifically at structural racism within the United States of America it is the formalization of practices that frequently put whites, or Caucasians, in a position of advantage while at the same time being consistently detrimental to people of color, such as African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Asians, and Middle Easterners.
[6] The analysis of poverty levels, currently or over a period of time, across different ethnic groups can give an indication of, but do not imply, structural racism.
[13] Poverty leads to health issues, less higher education, more high school dropouts, more teenage pregnancy, and less opportunities.
According to a paper that analyzed published research on PubMed from the years 2005–2007 on the connection between discrimination and health, there is an inverse relationship between the two; furthermore, the pattern is becoming more apparent across a greater variety of issues and data.
According to the 1985 Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in general Americans were getting healthier and had increased longevity but there is a persisting inequality between Blacks and other minority groups in the rate of death and illness contrasting to the overall population; furthermore, the report notes that this inequality has been around for more than a generation at this point or since better, more factual federal records have been kept.
[15] This is definitive proof that the federal government noticed these racial inequalities in health long before the 2005-2007 study of research data that revealed a pattern.
A 2023 scoping review of the literature found that in studies involving multiracial or multiethnic populations, race or ethnicity variables lacked thoughtful conceptualization and informative analysis concerning their role as indicators of exposure to racialized social disadvantage.
[18] This confirms that even as healthcare is advancing and new scientific discoveries are being made overall the disparities between ethnic groups are increasing.
This is a trend that was noticed in the 1985 report and has continued through the time worsening its effects and contributing to greater health inequalities.
Society can still effectively exclude racially disadvantaged people from decision-making or make choices that have a disparate impact on them.
