STRUCTURAL RACISM AND HEALTH INEQUITIES

TLDR

Racial minorities experience disproportionate morbidity and mortality, a pattern that may stem from racism that has historically constrained their lives. The article seeks to review conceptual frameworks of structural racism, emphasizing social segregation, immigration policy, and intergenerational effects. It examines how these structural dimensions—segregation, immigration policy, and intergenerational transmission—serve as mechanisms linking racism to health inequities. Recent evidence shows that individuals reporting racism experience higher illness rates, and the review argues that studies should treat multiple dimensions of structural racism as fundamental causes of health disparities.

Abstract

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.