Editing Racism (section)

== Etymology, definition, and usage ==
{{Race}}
[[File:ProceedingsLakeMohonkConference.png|thumb|left|An early use of the word ''racism'' by [[Richard Henry Pratt]] in 1902: "Association of races and classes is necessary to destroy racism and [[classism]]."]]
In the 19th century, many scientists subscribed to the belief that the human population can be divided into races. The term ''racism'' is a noun describing the state of being racist, i.e., subscribing to the belief that the human population can or should be classified into races with differential abilities and dispositions, which in turn may motivate a political ideology in which rights and privileges are differentially distributed based on racial categories. The term "racist" may be an adjective or a noun, the latter describing a person who holds those beliefs.<ref name="Merriam-Webster">{{cite book |title=Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary |date=1983 |publisher=Merriam-Webster, Inc. |isbn=0-87779-508-8 |pages=969}}</ref> The origin of the root word "race" is not clear. Linguists generally agree that it came to the English language from [[Middle French]], but there is no such agreement on how it generally came into Latin-based languages. A recent proposal is that it derives from the Arabic ''ra's'', which means "head, beginning, origin" or the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''rosh'', which has a similar meaning.<ref>{{cite dictionary |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=race&allowed_in_frame=0 |title=race (n2) |dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=21 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240404005057/https://www.etymonline.com/word/race |archive-date=4 April 2024}}</ref> Early race theorists generally held the view that some races were inferior to others and they consequently believed that the differential treatment of races was fully justified.<ref name="Garner09" /><ref name="Canadian Encyclo">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/racism/ |title=Racism |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=21 February 2016 |year=2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608204710/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/racism |archive-date=8 June 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Multiple sources:
* {{cite web |title=Framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia |url=http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/combating_discrimination/l33178_en.htm |website=Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA of 28 November 2008 |publisher=[[European Union]] |access-date=3 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514084654/http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/combating_discrimination/l33178_en.htm |archive-date=14 May 2011}}
* {{cite web |title=International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination |url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cerd.htm |department=UN Treaty Series |publisher=[[United Nations]] |access-date=3 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804043913/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cerd.htm |archive-date=4 August 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> These early theories guided [[Pseudoscience|pseudo-scientific]] research assumptions; the collective endeavors to adequately define and form hypotheses about racial differences are generally termed [[scientific racism]], though this term is a misnomer, due to the lack of any actual science backing the claims.

Most [[biologist]]s, [[Anthropology|anthropologists]], and [[Sociology|sociologists]] reject a [[Taxonomy (general)|taxonomy]] of races in favor of more specific and/or empirically verifiable criteria, such as [[geography]], ethnicity, or a history of [[endogamy]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Does Race Exist? |journal=[[Scientific American]] |date=December 2003 |first1=Michael |last1=Bamshad |first2=Steve E. |last2=Olson |quote=If races are defined as genetically discrete groups, no. Researchers can, however, use some genetic information to group individuals into clusters with medical relevance. |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1203-78 |pmid=14631734 |volume=289 |issue=6 |pages=78–85 |bibcode=2003SciAm.289f..78B}}</ref> [[Human genome]] research indicates that race is not a meaningful genetic classification of humans.<ref name="Patrinos04">{{cite journal |title='Race' and the human genome |author=Patrinos, Ari |journal=Nature Genetics |year=2004 |volume=36 |issue=S1–S2 |doi=10.1038/ng2150 |pages=S1–S2 |pmid=15510100|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Keita97">{{cite journal |url=http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/pageDocuments/WAURRSZQOE.pdf |title=The persistence of racial thinking and the myth of racial divergence |last1=Keita |first1=Shomarka O. Y. |first2=Rick A. |last2=Kittles |name-list-style=amp |journal=[[American Anthropologist]] |year=1997 |volume=99 |issue=3 |pages=534–544 |doi=10.1525/aa.1997.99.3.534 |access-date=10 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007080932/http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/pageDocuments/WAURRSZQOE.pdf |archive-date=7 October 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Smedley05">{{cite journal |title=Race as biology is fiction, racism as a social problem is real: Anthropological and historical perspectives on the social construction of race |author1=Smedley, Audrey |author2=Brian D. Smedley |name-list-style=amp |journal=[[American Psychologist]] |year=2005 |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=16–26 |doi=10.1037/0003-066x.60.1.16 |pmid=15641918 |citeseerx=10.1.1.694.7956}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yudell |first1=M. |last2=Roberts |first2=D. |last3=DeSalle |first3=R. |last4=Tishkoff |first4=S. |date=5 February 2016 |title=Taking race out of human genetics |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aac4951 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=351 |issue=6273 |pages=564–565 |bibcode=2016Sci...351..564Y |doi=10.1126/science.aac4951 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=26912690 |s2cid=206639306}}</ref>

An entry in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (2008) defines [[racialism]] as "[a]n earlier term than racism, but now largely superseded by it", and cites the term "racialism" in a 1902 quote.<ref>"racialism, n." [http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/157084 OED Online]. September 2013. Oxford University Press. (Accessed 3 December 2013).</ref> The revised ''Oxford English Dictionary'' cites the shorter term "racism" in a quote from the year 1903.<ref>[http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/157097 "racism, n."]. ''OED Online''. September 2013. Oxford University Press. Accessed 3 December 2013.</ref> It was defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (2nd edition 1989) as "[t]he theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race"; the same dictionary termed ''racism'' a [[synonym]] of ''racialism'': "belief in the superiority of a particular race". By the end of [[World War II]], ''racism'' had acquired the same supremacist connotations formerly associated with ''racialism'': ''racism'' by then implied racial [[discrimination]], racial [[supremacism]], and a harmful intent. The term "race hatred" had also been used by sociologist [[Frederick Hertz]] in the late 1920s.

As its history indicates, the popular use of the word ''racism'' is relatively recent. The word came into widespread usage in the [[Western world]] in the 1930s, when it was used to describe the social and political ideology of [[Nazism]], which treated "race" as a naturally given political unit.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7243.html |title=Racism: A Short History |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |author-link=George M. Fredrickson |last=Fredrickson |first=George M. |year=2002 |location=Princeton, NJ |page=5 |isbn=978-0-691-11652-5 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308115725/http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7243.html |archive-date=8 March 2016}}</ref> It is commonly agreed that racism existed before the coinage of the word, but there is not a wide agreement on a single definition of what racism is and what it is not.<ref name="Garner09">{{cite book |url=https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/racisms/book245769 |title=Racisms: An Introduction |publisher=Sage |last=Garner |first=Steve |year=2009 |access-date=21 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401055935/https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/racisms/book245769 |archive-date=1 April 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Today, some scholars of racism prefer to use the concept in the plural ''racisms'', in order to emphasize its many different forms that do not easily fall under a single definition. They also argue that different forms of racism have characterized different historical periods and geographical areas.<ref name="Bethen14">{{cite book |title=Racisms: From the Crusades to the Twentieth Century |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |last=Bethencourt |first=Francisco |year=2014 |location=Princeton, NJ}}</ref> Garner (2009: p.&nbsp;11) summarizes different existing definitions of racism and identifies three common elements contained in those definitions of racism. First, a historical, hierarchical [[Power (social and political)|power]] relationship between groups; second, a set of ideas (an ideology) about racial differences; and, third, discriminatory actions (practices).<ref name="Garner09" />

=== Legal ===
Though many countries around the globe have passed [[law]]s related to race and discrimination, the first significant international [[human rights]] instrument developed by the United Nations (UN) was the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] (UDHR),<ref name="UNUDHR">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html |title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights |date=6 October 2015 |publisher=[[United Nations]] |access-date=22 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031224448/http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html |archive-date=31 October 2017}}</ref> which was adopted by the [[United Nations General Assembly]] in 1948. The UDHR recognizes that if people are to be treated with dignity, they require [[economic rights]], [[civil rights|social rights]] including education, and the rights to [[culture|cultural]] and political participation and [[Civil liberties|civil liberty]]. It further states that everyone is entitled to these rights "without distinction of any kind, such as race, [[Human skin color|colour]], sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, [[Nationality|national]] or [[society|social]] origin, property, birth or other status".

The UN does not define "racism"; however, it does define "racial discrimination". According to the 1965 UN [[International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination]],<ref name="UNICERD">{{cite web |url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.aspx |title=International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination |publisher=[[United Nations]]. Adopted December 1965, entered into force January 1969 |access-date=22 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240702232413/https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-elimination-all-forms-racial |archive-date=2 July 2024}}</ref>
<blockquote>
The term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, [[Cultural heritage|descent]], or national or [[ethnicity|ethnic]] origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
</blockquote>

In their 1978 [[UNESCO|United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)]] Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice (Article 1), the UN states, "All human beings belong to a single species and are descended from a common stock. They are born equal in dignity and rights and all form an integral part of humanity."<ref name="UNESCO78">{{cite web |url=http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13161&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |title=Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice |publisher=[[United Nations]] |date=1978 |access-date=22 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122163043/https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/declaration-race-and-racial-prejudice |archive-date=22 November 2022}}</ref>

The UN definition of racial discrimination does not make any distinction between [[Discrimination based on skin color|discrimination based on ethnicity and race]], in part because the distinction between the two has been a matter of debate among [[academia|academics]], including [[Anthropology|anthropologists]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Metraux |first1=A. |year=1950 |title=United nations Economic and Security Council Statement by Experts on Problems of Race |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=53 |issue=1|pages=142–145 |doi=10.1525/aa.1951.53.1.02a00370}}</ref> Similarly, in [[Law of the United Kingdom|British law]], the phrase ''racial group'' means "any group of people who are defined by reference to their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origin".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/prosecution/rrpbcrbook.html |title=Racist and Religious Crime – CPS Prosecution Policy |publisher=The CPS |access-date=23 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119032241/http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/prosecution/rrpbcrbook.html |archive-date=19 January 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Norway, the word "race" has been removed from national laws concerning discrimination because the use of the phrase is considered problematic and unethical.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jon Dagsland |last=Holgersen |date=23 July 2010 |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Rasebegrepet-pa-vei-ut-av-loven-215256b.html |title=Rasebegrepet på vei ut av loven |language=no |trans-title=The concept of race on the way out of the law |work=[[Aftenposten]] |access-date=6 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240404043334/https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/i/eKXpK/rasebegrepet-paa-vei-ut-av-loven |archive-date=4 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Rase-Et-ubrukelig-ord-6610475.html |title=Rase: Et ubrukelig ord |language=no |trans-title=Race: A useless word |work=[[Aftenposten]] |date= |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301214159/http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Rase-Et-ubrukelig-ord-6610475.html |archive-date=1 March 2014}}</ref> The Norwegian Anti-Discrimination Act bans discrimination based on ethnicity, national origin, descent, and skin color.<ref>{{cite web |author=[[Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion]] |url=http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/ad/doc/lover_regler/reglement/2005/the-anti-discrimination-act.html?id=420606 |title=The Act on prohibition of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, etc. |website=Regjeringen.no | date=26 September 2005 |access-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319090031/https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/the-anti-discrimination-act/id420606/ |archive-date=19 March 2023}}</ref>

=== Social and behavioral sciences ===
{{Main|Sociology of race and ethnic relations}}

[[Sociology|Sociologists]], in general, recognize "race" as a [[Social constructivism|social construct]]. This means that, although the concepts of race and racism are based on observable biological characteristics, any conclusions drawn about race on the basis of those observations are heavily influenced by cultural ideologies. Racism, as an ideology, exists in a society at both the individual and institutional level.

While much of the research and work on racism during the last half-century or so has concentrated on "white racism" in the Western world, historical accounts of race-based social practices can be found across the globe.<ref name="Gossett">Gossett, Thomas F. ''Race: The History of an Idea in America''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-509778-5}}</ref> Thus, racism can be broadly defined to encompass individual and group prejudices and acts of discrimination that result in material and cultural advantages conferred on a majority or a dominant social group.<ref>{{cite book |title=Racist America: Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations |publisher=[[Routledge]] |last=Feagin |first=Joe R. |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-415-92531-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/racistamericaroo00feag_0}}</ref> So-called "white racism" focuses on societies in which white populations are the majority or the dominant social group. In studies of these majority white societies, the aggregate of material and cultural advantages is usually termed "[[white privilege]]".

Race and race relations are prominent areas of study in [[sociology]] and [[economics]]. Much of the sociological literature focuses on white racism. Some of the earliest sociological works on racism were written by sociologist [[W. E. B. Du Bois]], the first African American to earn a doctoral degree from [[Harvard University]]. Du Bois wrote, "[t]he problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the [[color line (civil rights issue)|color line]]."<ref name="DuBois03">{{cite book |title=The Souls of Black Folk |publisher=Bantam Classic |last=Du Bois |first=W. E. B. |author-link=W. E. B. Du Bois |year=1903 |location=New York |title-link=The Souls of Black Folk}}</ref> Wellman (1993) defines racism as "culturally sanctioned beliefs, which, regardless of intentions involved, defend the advantages whites have because of the subordinated position of racial minorities".<ref name="Wellman">{{cite book |last=Wellman |first=David T. |title=Portraits of White Racism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993 |location=New York |page=x}}</ref> In both sociology and economics, the outcomes of racist actions are often measured by the [[Social inequality|inequality]] in [[income]], [[wealth]], [[net worth]], and access to other cultural resources (such as education), between racial groups.<ref name="Massey89">{{cite journal |title=Hypersegregation in U.S. Metropolitan areas: Black and Hispanic Segregation Along Five Dimensions |last1=Massey |first1=D. |author1-link=Douglas S. Massey |first2=N. |last2=Denton |author2-link=Nancy A. Denton |name-list-style=amp |journal=[[Demography (journal)|Demography]] |year=1989 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=378–379 |doi=10.2307/2061599 |jstor=2061599 |pmid=2792476 |s2cid=37301240 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In sociology and [[social psychology]], [[Identity (social science)|racial identity]] and the acquisition of that identity, is often used as a variable in racism studies. Racial ideologies and racial identity affect individuals' perception of race and discrimination. Cazenave and Maddern (1999) define racism as "a highly organized system of 'race'-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is held together by a sophisticated ideology of color/'race' supremacy. Racial centrality (the extent to which a culture recognizes individuals' racial identity) appears to affect the degree of discrimination African-American young adults perceive whereas racial ideology may buffer the detrimental emotional effects of that discrimination."<ref name="Cazenave">{{cite journal |title=Defending the White Race: White Male Faculty Opposition to a White Racism Course |last1=Cazenave |first1=Noel A. |first2=Darlene Alvarez |last2=Maddern |name-list-style=amp |journal=Race and Society |year=1999 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=25–50 |doi=10.1016/s1090-9524(00)00003-6}}</ref> Sellers and Shelton (2003) found that a relationship between racial discrimination and emotional distress was moderated by racial ideology and social beliefs.<ref name="Sellers03">{{cite journal |title=The role of racial identity in perceived racial discrimination |last1=Sellers |first1=R. M. |first2=J. N. |last2=Shelton |name-list-style=amp |journal=[[Journal of Personality and Social Psychology]] |year=2003 |volume=84 |issue=5 |pages=1079–1092 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.84.5.1079 |pmid=12757150}}</ref>

Some sociologists also argue that, particularly in the West, where racism is often [[Social control|negatively sanctioned]] in society, racism has changed from being a blatant to a more covert expression of racial prejudice. The "newer" (more hidden and less easily detectable) forms of racism—which can be considered embedded in social processes and structures—are more difficult to explore and challenge. It has been suggested that, while in many countries overt or explicit racism has become increasingly [[taboo]], even among those who display egalitarian explicit attitudes, an [[Implicit-association test|implicit]] or [[aversive racism]] is still maintained subconsciously.<ref name="Greenwald" />

This process has been studied extensively in social psychology as implicit associations and [[implicit attitude]]s, a component of [[implicit cognition]]. Implicit attitudes are evaluations that occur without conscious awareness towards an attitude object or the self. These evaluations are generally either favorable or unfavorable. They come about from various influences in the individual experience.<ref>{{cite book |title=Implicit attitudes 101: Theoretical and empirical Insights |last=Devos |first=T. |publisher=[[Psychology Press]] |year=2008 |location=New York |chapter=Attitudes and attitude change |pages=61–84}}</ref> Implicit attitudes are not consciously identified (or they are inaccurately identified) traces of past experience that mediate favorable or unfavorable feelings, thoughts, or actions towards social objects.<ref name="Greenwald">{{cite journal |last1=Greenwald |first1=A.G. |last2=Banaji |first2=M. R. |year=1995 |title=Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes |journal=[[Psychological Review]] |volume=102 |issue=1 |pages=4–27 |doi=10.1037/0033-295x.102.1.4 |pmid=7878162 |citeseerx=10.1.1.304.6161 |s2cid=8194189}}</ref> These feelings, thoughts, or actions have an influence on behavior of which the individual may not be aware.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gawronski |first1=B. |last2=Payne |first2=B. K. |title=Handbook of Implicit Social Cognition: Measurement, Theory and Application |date=2010 
|publisher=[[Guilford Press]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8UiqBlGT7z4C |isbn=978-1-60623-674-1}}</ref>

Therefore, subconscious racism can influence our visual processing and how our minds work when we are subliminally exposed to faces of different colors. In thinking about crime, for example, [[Social psychology|social psychologist]] [[Jennifer Eberhardt|Jennifer L. Eberhardt]] (2004) of [[Stanford University]] holds that, "blackness is so associated with crime you're ready to pick out these crime objects."<ref name="Eberhardt04">{{cite journal |title=Seeing Black: Race, Crime, and Visual Processing |last=Eberhardt |first=Jennifer L. |journal=[[Journal of Personality and Social Psychology]] |year=2004 |volume=87 |issue=6 |pages=876–893 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.87.6.876 |display-authors=etal |pmid=15598112 |citeseerx=10.1.1.408.3542|s2cid=6322610 }}</ref> Such exposures influence our minds and they can cause subconscious racism in our behavior towards other people or even towards objects. Thus, racist thoughts and actions can arise from stereotypes and fears of which we are not aware.<ref name="Eberhardt14">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itTHBAAAQBAJ&q=Racism+goes+beyond+prejudicial+discrimination+and+bigotry.+It+arises+from+stereotypes+and+fears+of+which+we+are+vastly+unaware.&pg=PA202 |title=Drugs, Crime, and Justice |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |date=2014 |last1=Belenko |first1=Steven |first2=Cassia |last2=Spohn |author2-link=Cassia Spohn |name-list-style=amp |isbn=978-1-4833-1295-8}}</ref> For example, scientists and activists have warned that the use of the stereotype "Nigerian Prince" for referring to [[advance-fee scam]]mers is racist, i.e. "reducing Nigeria to a nation of scammers and fraudulent princes, as some people still do online, is a [[stereotype]] that needs to be called out".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yékú |first1=James |title=Anti-Afropolitan ethics and the performative politics of online scambaiting |journal=[[Social Dynamics]] |date=3 May 2020 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=240–258 |doi=10.1080/02533952.2020.1813943 |s2cid=222232833}}</ref>

=== Humanities ===
[[Language]], [[linguistics]], and [[discourse]] are active areas of study in the [[humanities]], along with literature and the arts. [[Discourse analysis]] seeks to reveal the meaning of race and the actions of racists through careful study of the ways in which these factors of human society are described and discussed in various written and oral works. For example, Van Dijk (1992) examines the different ways in which descriptions of racism and racist actions are depicted by the perpetrators of such actions as well as by their victims.<ref>{{cite book |title=Analyzing Racism Through Discourse Analysis Some Methodological Reflections in Race and Ethnicity in Research Methods |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |last=Van Dijk |first=Tuen |year=1992 |location=Newbury Park, CA |pages=92–134 |isbn=978-0-8039-5007-8}}</ref> He notes that when descriptions of actions have negative implications for the majority, and especially for white elites, they are often seen as controversial and such controversial interpretations are typically marked with quotation marks or they are greeted with expressions of distance or doubt. The previously cited book, ''[[The Souls of Black Folk]]'' by W.E.B. Du Bois, represents early [[African-American literature]] that describes the author's experiences with racism when he was traveling in the [[Southern United States|South]] as an African American.

Much American fictional literature has focused on issues of racism and the black "racial experience" in the US, including works written by whites, such as ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'', ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'', and ''[[Imitation of Life (novel)|Imitation of Life]]'', or even the non-fiction work ''[[Black Like Me]]''. These books, and others like them, feed into what has been called the "[[white savior narrative in film]]", in which the heroes and heroines are white even though the story is about things that happen to black characters. [[Content analysis|Textual analysis]] of such writings can contrast sharply with black authors' descriptions of African Americans and their experiences in US society. African-American writers have sometimes been portrayed in [[African-American studies]] as retreating from racial issues when they write about "[[Whiteness studies|whiteness]]", while others identify this as an African-American literary tradition called "the literature of white estrangement", part of a multi-pronged effort to challenge and dismantle [[white supremacy]] in the US.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Souls of White Folk: African American Writers Theorize Whiteness |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |last=Watson |first=Veronica T. |year=2013 |location=Jackson |page=137 |isbn=978-1-4968-0245-3}}</ref>

=== Popular usage ===
According to dictionary definitions, racism is prejudice and discrimination based on race.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/racism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927163823/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/racism |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 September 2016 |title=Definition of racism in English |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=3 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism |title=Definition of racism |dictionary=Merriam-Webster |access-date=3 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225025723/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism |archive-date=25 December 2017}}</ref>

Racism can also be said to describe a condition in society in which a dominant racial group benefits from the [[oppression]] of others, whether that group wants such benefits or not.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reverse-racism-isnt-a-thing_us_55d60a91e4b07addcb45da97 |title='Reverse Racism': 4 Myths That Need To Stop |date=26 August 2015 |access-date=28 February 2016 |last=Blay |first=Zeba |publisher=[[HuffPost|Huffpost Black Voices]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240511024537/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/reverse-racism-isnt-a-thing_n_55d60a91e4b07addcb45da97 |archive-date=11 May 2024}}</ref> Foucauldian scholar Ladelle McWhorter, in her 2009 book, ''Racism and Sexual Oppression in Anglo-America: A Genealogy'', posits modern racism similarly, focusing on the notion of a dominant group, usually whites, vying for racial purity and progress, rather than an overt or obvious ideology focused on the oppression of nonwhites.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Racism and sexual oppression in Anglo-America: a genealogy |last=McWhorter |first=Ladelle |year=2009 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |isbn=978-0-253-35296-5 |location=Bloomington |oclc=406565635}}</ref>

In popular usage, as in some academic usage, little distinction is made between "racism" and "[[ethnocentrism]]". Often, the two are listed together as "racial and ethnic" in describing some action or outcome that is associated with prejudice within a majority or dominant group in society. Furthermore, the meaning of the term racism is often conflated with the terms prejudice, [[bigotry]], and discrimination. Racism is a complex concept that can involve each of those; but it cannot be equated with, nor is it synonymous, with these other terms.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Some academics use a new [[Stipulative definition|stipulative definition]] of racism, seeing racism not only in terms of individual prejudice, but also seeing it in terms of a power structure that protects the interests of the dominant culture and actively discriminates against ethnic minorities. From this newly defined perspective, racism means "[[Prejudice plus power]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoyt |first1=Carlos |title=The Pedagogy of the Meaning of Racism: Reconciling a Discordant Discourse |journal=Social Work |date=2012 |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=225–234 |doi=10.1093/sw/sws009 |jstor=23719752 |pmid=23252314 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23719752 |issn=0037-8046}}</ref>