What describes racist outcomes in an organization that occur even when individuals do not intend them?

• A. Racism
• B. Prejudice
• C. Institutional racism
• D. Social exclusion

Answer: (C)

Racist outcomes that occur in an organization without individuals intending them come from systemic patterns within the organization. This is institutional racism. It means policies, practices, and cultures are structured in ways that produce unequal effects for different racial groups, even if the people applying them don’t hold racist views. For example, recruitment, promotion, pay, or disciplinary rules might inadvertently disadvantage one group because of how they’re designed or how they’re applied in practice, creating disparities that are built into the system rather than caused by individual prejudice.

This differs from racism, which centers on beliefs or deliberate actions by people; prejudice is an attitude or feeling about a group; and social exclusion refers to preventing participation in social life, which can be related but doesn’t by itself specify the organizational structures that generate unequal outcomes.