ABSTRACT
The racial worldview accepts inequality as normative—that is, societies and races are inherently unequal, and people of color are "naturally" at the bottom of most social and economic indexes because of their innate inferiority. This chapter reviews evidence that racial health inequalities are the consequence of race-based structural inequities or structural racism. Rather than biological or genetic differences, and that the ways in which these inequalities are understood in US public discourse continues to reinforce the racial worldview. Racial and ethnic health inequities are largely the result of structural racism—that is, the inequitable distribution along racial and ethnic lines of power, resources, and services that shape population health. These same forces drive much of US racial socioeconomic inequality. Racism operates in many dimensions, including interpersonal, institutional, and internalized forms that disadvantage some racial and ethnic minorities and advantage the majority. Simply put, the racial worldview in the United States has harmful consequences for a disproportionate share of people of color.
