Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
In recent work, Joshua Glasgow has offered a definition of racism that is supposed to put to rest the debates between cognitive, behavioral, attitudinal, and institutionalist definitions. The key to such a definition, he argues, is the idea of disrespect. He claims: "φ is racist if and only if φ is disrespectful toward members of racialized group R as Rs." While this definition may capture an important commonality among cognitive, behavioral, and attitudinal accounts of racism, I argue that his attempt to expand the definition to cover institutional or "structural" racism is less persuasive. Alternatively, I argue that structural racism must be understood in terms of injustice rather than disrespect. This involves giving a fuller account of how institutions are related to the beliefs, actions, and intentions of individuals, and thus how they can come to embody a certain kind of agency.
DOI
10.5840/jpr20147218
Recommended Citation
Pierce, Andrew J., "Structural Racism, Institutional Agency, and Disrespect" (2014). Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications. 89.
https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/rel_fac/89
Comments
Version posted here is a pre-print supplied by the author.
Final published version: Pierce, Andrew. "Structural Racism, Institutional Agency, and Disrespect." Journal of Philosophical Research 39 (2014): 23-42.