ABSTRACT
Race is a socially constructed concept associated with physical characteristics but actually having no biological basis. Racism is a system where one racially designated group maintains the power and privilege in society and relegates other groups to subordinated positions of reduced resources, discrimination, and prejudice. The role of the privileged group in creating the systemic racism is denied. Discrimination refers to unfair treatment of people, based on perceived group affiliation. Prejudice is when a person holds preconceived ideas about someone based on categorical perceptions attributed to them. Institutional discrimination refers to patterns of differential treatment which are built into the structures and culture of institutions. Hegemony refers to cultural domination in which one group’s values and standards are integrated into the culture as the universal standard. Over the ensuing decades Affirmative Action has been challenged in the courts, and largely upheld, as long as it was not implemented with specific quotas. Ethnicity refers to ancestry, culture, nationality, language, and/or religion.
