Racism in organizations: The case of a county public health department
Open accessAbstract
Racism is part of the foundation of U.S. society and institutions, yet few studies in community psychology or organizational studies have examined how racism affects organizations. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of institutional racism, which describes how, in spite of professional standards and ethics, racism functions within organizations to adversely affect the quality of services, the organizational climate, and staff job satisfaction and morale. Grounded in systems theory and organizational empowerment, the framework is based on data that describe how racism was made manifest in a county public health department. The findings highlight the importance of understanding how organizations are influenced by external forces and can negatively affect clients, communities, and their own staff members. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Structural racism is not the only system of oppression marginalized communities face in the U.S.; heterosexism, gender binarism, classism, ableism, nationalism and other -isms comprise distinct and entangled societal systems that structure the embodiment of health inequities.
“Lastly, we recognize that structural racism is not the only system of oppression that marginalized communities face within the U.S. Heterosexism, gender binarism, classism, ableism, nationalism, and other -isms independently and collectively comprise intimately harmful, distinct, and entangled societal systems of self-serving domination and privilege that structure the embodiment of health inequi”
From Structural Racism Conceptualization and Operationalization for Research for the U.S. HIV Epidemic: Findings from a Scoping Review and Implications for Advancing Research for Structural Interventions (2024) · cites this paper as [44]
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- Authors
- Griffith, D. M., Childs, E. L., Eng, E., & Jeffries, V.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Griffith, Derek M.
- ORCID
- Griffith, Derek M.
- Venue
- Journal of Community Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-03-13
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 287-302
- ISSN
- 0090-4392 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-6629
- PMC
- PMC2565803
- OpenAlex
- W2143110290
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 8.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Community Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- UNC Libraries
- Funders
- W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (U48/DP000055)
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (L60 MD000395)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Community Health and Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Counseling Practices and Supervision
- Keywords
- institutional racism, public health departments, organizational climate, job satisfaction, employee morale, quality of service, systems theory, organizational empowerment, community psychology
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