CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 1,388Racial and Ethnic Identity ResearchHealth disparities and outcomesGender, Health, and Social Inequality

STRUCTURAL RACISM AND HEALTH INEQUITIES: Old Issues, New Directions

Open access
Gee, Gilbert C., Ford, Chandra L.·2011·Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race
DOI 10.1017/s1742058x11000130PMC PMC4306458
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Racial minorities bear a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality. These inequities might be explained by racism, given the fact that racism has restricted the lives of racial minorities and immigrants throughout history. Recent studies have documented that individuals who report experiencing racism have greater rates of illnesses. While this body of research has been invaluable in advancing knowledge on health inequities, it still locates the experiences of racism at the individual level. Yet, the health of social groups is likely most strongly affected by structural, rather than individual, phenomena. The structural forms of racism and their relationship to health inequities remain under-studied. This article reviews several ways of conceptualizing structural racism, with a focus on social segregation, immigration policy, and intergenerational effects. Studies of disparities should more seriously consider the multiple dimensions of structural racism as fundamental causes of health disparities.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1017/s1742058x11000130

Cites

8 of 8 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Fundamental cause theory holds that health disparities persist due to underlying social factors that disadvantage certain groups in accessing resources for protecting health and avoiding disease.

    “According to fundamental cause theory, health disparities persist due to underlying social factors that disadvantage certain groups in accessing resources for protecting health and avoiding disease (Gee and Ford, 2011; Link and Phelan, 1995; Williams et al., 2019).”

    From Cultural trauma as a fundamental cause of health disparities (2022) · cites this paper as Gee and Ford, 2011

    The Conclusion describes structural racism as a fundamental determinant of health disparities, and the Social Segregation section says segregation concentrates exposures and resources. But the paper does not set out the broader fundamental cause theory claim that disparities persist because disadvantaged groups lack resources to protect health and avoid disease; its discussion is specifically about racism and racial inequities. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 66

  1. Acevedo-Garcia D Residential Segregation and the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases Social Science & Medicine 2000 51 8 1143 1161 11037206
  2. Angelon-Gaetz KA Richardson DB Wing S Inequalities in the Nuclear Age: Impact of Race and Gender on Radiation Exposure at the Savannah River Site (1951–1999) New Solutions 2010 20 2 195 210 20621884 PMC3534859
  3. Araujo BY Borrell LN Understanding the Link between Discrimination, Mental Health Outcomes, and Life Chances Among Latinos Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 2006 28 2 245 266
  4. Barkan ER Diner H Kraut AM From Arrival to Incorporation: Migrants to the US in a Global Era 2008 New York New York University Press
  5. Barker DJP Fetal Programming of Coronary Heart Disease Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism 2002 13 9 364 368 12367816
  6. Becker MH The Tyranny of Health Promotion Public Health Review 1986 14 1 15 23 3775038
  7. Bell JF Zimmerman FJ Almgren GR Mayer JD Huebner CE Birth Outcomes among Urban African American Women: A Multilevel Analysis of the Role of Racial Residential Segregation Social Science & Medicine 2006 63 12 3030 3045 16997438
  8. Bobo L Smelser N Wilson WJ Mitchell F Racial Attitudes and Relations at the Close of the Twentieth Century America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Implications 2000 Washington, DC National Academy Press 262 299
  9. Bonilla-Silva E Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation American Sociological Review 1997 62 3 465 480
  10. Borrell LN Racial Identity among Hispanics: Implications for Health and Well-Being American Journal of Public Health 2005 95 3 379 381 15727961 PMC1449186
  11. Boswell RA Racism and U.S. Immigration Law: Prospects for Reform after “9/11”? Immigration and Nationality Law Review 2003 7 315 356
  12. Boyd D Nakamura L Chow-White P White Flight in Networked Public Places? How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook Digital Race Anthology 2009 New York Routledge Press
  13. Brave Heart M DeBruyn LM The American Indian Holocaust: Healing Historical Unresolved Grief American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research 1998 8 2 60 82 9842066
  14. Bruch E Mare R Neighborhood Choice and Neighborhood Change American Journal of Sociology 2006 112 667 709
  15. Chae DH Walters KL Racial Discrimination and Racial Identity Attitudes in Relation to Self-Rated Health and Physical Pain and Impairment among Two-Spirit American Indians/Alaska Natives American Journal of Public Health 2009 99 S1 S144 S151 19218182 PMC2724927
  16. Clarke SP Davis BL Nailon RE Racial Segregation and Differential Outcomes in Hospital Care Western Journal of Nursing Research 2007 29 6 739 757 17630385
  17. Daniels J Everett A Race, Civil Rights, and Hate Speech in the Digital Era Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media 2010 Cambridge, MA MIT Press 129 154
  18. Darity WA Jr Employment Discrimination, Segregation, and Health American Journal of Public Health 2003 93 2 226 231 12554574 PMC1447721
  19. Darity W Dietrich J Guilkey DK Persistent Advantage or disadvantage?: Evidence in Support of the Intergenerational Drag Hypothesis American Journal of Economics and Sociology 2003 60 2 435 470
  20. de Castro AB Fujishiro K Schweitzer E Olivia J How Immigrant Workers Experience Workplace Problems: A Qualitative Study Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health: An International Journal 2006 61 6 249 258 17967746
  21. Du Bois WEB The Health and Physique of the Negro American American Journal of Public Health 2003 93 272 276 12554583 PMC1449799
  22. Finch BK Frank R Vega WA Acculturation and Acculturation Stress: A Social-Epidemiological Approach to Mexican Migrant Farmworkers’ Health International Migration Review 2004 38 1 236 262
  23. Gaskin DJ Price A Brandon DT LaVeist TA Segregation and Disparities in Health Services Use Medical Care Research and Review 2009 66 5 578 589 19460811 PMC3099538
  24. Gee GC A Multilevel Analysis of the Relationship between Institutional and Individual Racial Discrimination and Health Status American Journal of Public Health 2002 92 4 615 623 11919062 PMC1447127
  25. Gee GC Payne-Sturges DC Environmental Health Disparities: A Framework Integrating Psychosocial and Environmental Concepts Environmental Health Perspectives 2004 112 17 1645 1653 15579407 PMC1253653
  26. Gee GC Ro A Shariff-Marco S Chae DH Racial Discrimination and Health among Asian Americans: Evidence, Assessment, and Directions for Future Research Epidemiologic Reviews 2009 31 1 130 151 19805401 PMC4933297
  27. Goldman DP Smith JP Sood N Legal Status and Health Insurance among Immigrants Health Affairs 2005 24 6 1640 1653 16284039
  28. Heckman JJ Payner BS Determining the Impact of Federal Antidiscrimination Policy on the Economic Status of Blacks: A Study of South Carolina The American Economic Review 1989 79 1 138 177
  29. Institute of Medicine Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data: Standardization for Health Care Quality Improvement 2009 Washington, DC The National Academies Press 25032349
  30. James SA Confronting the Moral Economy of US Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities American Journal of Public Health 2008 98 Supplement 1 S16 18687604 PMC2518590
  31. Jones CP Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale American Journal of Public Health 2000 90 8 1212 1215 10936998 PMC1446334
  32. Kaushal N Kaestner R Welfare Reform and Health Insurance of Immigrants Health Services Research 2005 40 3 697 722 15960687 PMC1361164
  33. Kelaher M Jessop DJ Differences in Low-Birthweight among Documented and Undocumented Foreign-Born and US-born Latinas Social Science and Medicine 2002 55 2171 2175 12409130
  34. Kramer MR Hogue CR Is Segregation Bad for Your Health? Epidemiologic Reviews 2009 31 1 178 194 19465747 PMC4362512
  35. Krieger N Embodying Inequality: A Review of Concepts, Measures, and Methods for Studying Health Consequences of Discrimination International Journal of Health Services 1999 29 2 295 352 10379455
  36. Krieger N Williams DR Moss NE Measuring Social Class in US Public Health Research: Concepts, Methodologies, and Guidelines Annual Review of Public Health 1997 18 341 378 9143723
  37. Lauderdale DS Birth Outcomes for Arabic-Named Women in California Before and After September 11 Demography 2006 43 1 185 201 16579214
  38. Lauderdale DS Wen M Jacobs EA Kandula NR Immigrant Perceptions of Discrimination in Health Care: the California Health Interview Survey 2003 Medical Care 2006 44 10 914 920 17001262
  39. Laumann EO Youm Y Racial/Ethnic Group Differences in the Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States: A Network Explanation Sexually Transmitted Diseases 1999 26 250 261 10333277
  40. LaVeist TA Beyond Dummy Variables and Sample Selection: What Health Services Researchers Ought to Know about Race as a Variable Health Services Research 1994 29 1 1 16 8163376 PMC1069985
  41. Lee BA Reardon SF Firebaugh G Farrell CR Matthews SA O’Sullivan D Beyond the Census Tract: Patterns and Determinants of Racial Residential Segregation at Multiple Scales American Sociological Review 2008 73 766 791 25324575 PMC4196718
  42. Margo RA Race and Schooling in the South, 1880–1950: An Economic History 1990 Chicago, IL University of Chicago Press
  43. Molina N Fit to Be Citizens 2006 Berkeley, CA University of California Press
  44. Morello-Frosch R Jesdale BM Separate and Unequal: Residential Segregation and Estimated Cancer Risks Associated with Ambient Air Toxics in U.S. Metropolitan Areas Environmental Health Perspectives 2006 114 3 386 393 16507462 PMC1392233
  45. Nevins J Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the “Illegal Alien” and the Making of the US-Mexico boundary 2002 New York Routledge
  46. Ortega AN Fang H Perez VH Rizzo JA Carter-Pokras O Health Care Access, Use of Services, and Experiences among Undocumented Mexicans and Other Latinos Archives of Internal Medicine 2007 167 21 2354 2360 18039995
  47. Padela AI Heisler M The Association of Perceived Abuse and Discrimination after September 11, 2001, with Psychological Distress, Level of Happiness, and Health Status among Arab Americans American Journal of Public Health 2010 100 2 284 291 20019301 PMC2804633
  48. Park JSW Elusive Citizenship: Immigration, Asian Americans, and the Paradox of Civil Rights 2004 New York New York University Press
  49. Pembrey ME Bygren LO Kaati G Edvinsson S Northstone K Sex-specific, Male-line Transgenerational Responses in Humans European Journal of Human Genetics 2005 14 2 159 166 16391557
  50. Powell JA Structural Racism: Building upon the Insights of John Calmore North Carolina Law Review 2008 86 791 816
  51. Quadagno J Promoting Civil Rights through the Welfare State: How Medicare Integrated Southern Hospitals Social Problems 2000 47 1 68 89 18050538
  52. Reardon SF Farrell CR Matthews SA O’Sullivan D Bischoff K Firebaugh G Race and Space in the 1990s: Changes in the Geographic Scale of Racial Residential Segregation, 1990–2000 Social Science Research 2009 38 1 55 70 19569292 PMC4057018
  53. Sacerdote B Slavery and the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital Review of Economics and Statistics 2005 87 2 217 234
  54. Smith DB Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities and the Unfinished Civil Rights Agenda Health Affairs 2005 24 2 317 324 15757914
  55. Smith DB Feng Z Fennell ML Zinn JS Mor V Separate and Unequal: Racial Segregation and Disparities in Quality across U.S. Nursing Homes Health Affairs 2007 26 5 1448 1458 17848457
  56. Sommers BD Targeting in Medicaid: The Costs and Enrollment Effects of Medicaid’s Citizenship Documentation Experiment Journal of Public Economics 2010 94 1–2 174 182
  57. Sondik EJ Huang DT Klein RJ Satcher D Progress toward the Healthy People: 2010 Goals and Objectives Annual Review of Public Health 2010 31 1 271 281 20070194
  58. Subramanian SV Acevedo-Garcia D Osypuk TL Racial Residential Segregation and Geographic Heterogeneity in Black/White Disparity in Poor Self-Rated Health in the US: A Multilevel Statistical Analysis Social Science & Medicine 2005 60 8 1667 1679 15686800
  59. Viruell-Fuentes EA Beyond Acculturation: Immigration, Discrimination, and Health Research among Mexicans in the United States Social Science &Medicine 2007 65 7 1524 1535 17602812
  60. Walsemann KM Bell BA Integrated Schools, Segregated Curriculum: Effects of Within-School Segregation on Adolescent Health Behaviors and Educational Aspirations American Journal of Public Health 2010 100 9 1687 1695 20634462 PMC2920985
  61. Wang J Iannotti RJ Nansel TR School Bullying among Adolescents in the United States: Physical, Verbal, Relational, and Cyber Journal of Adolescent Health 2009 45 4 368 375 19766941 PMC2751860
  62. White TK Initial Conditions at Emancipation: The Long-Run Effect on Black-White Wealth and Earnings Inequality Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 2007 31 3370 3395
  63. Williams DR Collins CA Racial Residential Segregation: A Fundamental Cause of Racial Disparities in Health Public Health Reports 2001 116 404 416 12042604 PMC1497358
  64. Williams DR Mohammed SA Discrimination and Racial Disparities in Health: Evidence and Needed Research Journal of Behavioral Medicine 2009 32 20 47 19030981 PMC2821669
  65. Yoo HC Gee GC Takeuchi D Discrimination and Health among Asian American Immigrants: Disentangling Racial from Language Discrimination Social Science & Medicine 2009 68 4 726 732 19095340 PMC3897711
  66. Yu SM Huang ZJ Schwalberg RH Nyman RM Parental English Proficiency and Children’s Health Services Access American Journal of Public Health 2006 96 8 1449 1455 16809589 PMC1522110

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Gee, G. C., & Ford, C. L.
Affiliations
University of California, Los Angeles (US)
Corresponding author
Gee, Gilbert C.
ORCID
Venue
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2011
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
115-132
ISSN
  • 1742-058X (ISSN-L)
  • 1742-0598
DOI
10.1017/s1742058x11000130
PMC
PMC4306458
OpenAlex
W2122889339
Cited by
1,388
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 107 · 2025: 137 · 2024: 161 · 2023: 196 · 2022: 212 · 2021: 233 · 2020: 105 · 2019: 68 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 44 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 16
FWCI
37.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 104 d)
Locations
  • Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD041022)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Gender, Health, and Social Inequality
Keywords
structural racism, health disparities, racial minorities, immigrants, social segregation, immigration policy, intergenerational effects

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review