Forms of Discrimination
These definitions were taken or adapted from the American Psychological Association. (2023). Inclusive language guide (2nd ed.) APA Inclusive Language Guide (unless otherwise noted).
Ableism
Encompassed by the act of stereotyping, holding prejudicial attitudes, engaging in discriminatory behavior, and perpetuating social oppression against individuals with disabilities, thereby hindering their rights and well-being. Various global attitudes and cultural factors contribute to microaggressions and discrimination against people with disabilities including but not limited to deficit-oriented language commonly, assumptions about the cognitive abilities of individuals with visible disabilities, and practices as policies that do not acknowledge or affirm the needs of individuals with varying types of disabilities.
Ageism
Prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination against individuals or groups based on their age. Ageism can occur regardless of whether the targeted individual or group is younger or older. Ageism may take many forms, including prejudicial attitudes, discriminatory practices, or institutional policies and practices that perpetuate stereotypical beliefs.
Antisemitism
Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities. A full definition of antisemitism can be found on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s website.
Classism
Attributing characteristics of value and ability based on perceived or actual socioeconomic status, along with the attitudes, policies, and practices that perpetuate socioeconomic status-related inequality. Classism functions to delineate and strengthen social class distinctions, manifesting through biased or discriminatory attitudes, language, or behaviors directed at individuals due to their perceived or actual socioeconomic class. Such manifestations can occur in various contexts, including interpersonal interactions, education, housing, healthcare, legal assistance, politics, public policy, and beyond.
Colorism
Discrimination or prejudice based on skin color, whereby individuals with lighter skin are favored over individuals with darker skin.
Cultural Biases
A tendency or predisposition toward favoring or disfavoring the values, beliefs, language, rituals, traditions, and behaviors of distinct cultural or social groups. There are two main categories of biases: motivational and cognitive. Motivational biases towards cultural or social groups are typically derived from self-interest, social influences, or institutional needs, while cognitive biases involve judgments that deviate from evidence, with some being linked to implicit reasoning.
Implicit Bias: An unconscious attitude, often referred to as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, directed either for or against a specific social or cultural group. Implicit bias is believed to be formed through experiences and established associations between specific attributes and social categories including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, and socioeconomic status. Individuals may have their perceptions and behaviors influenced by these implicit biases, even if they are not consciously aware of holding such biases. Implicit bias can operate without deliberate intention or endorsement. See Implicit attitudes test for assessing your implicit attitudes.
Discrimination
The unjust and prejudicial treatment of individuals or groups in relation to perceived and actual identity (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, religiosity, nationality). Such unjust and prejudicial treatment can occur at individual, institutional, and structural levels, whereby the accessibility of services, resources, and opportunities is restricted for groups who are discriminated against. See VCU Definition and Discrimination Policy.
Erasure
A form of discrimination that encompasses the deficit, omission, and suppression of knowledge, policy, structure, and practice aimed at acknowledging, protecting, and affirming the identities of distinct social groups. Informational (e.g., the deficit of the inclusion of identity-related data being collected to represent diverse populations) and institutional erasure (i.e., the deficit of policy and structures in institutions that acknowledge, affirm, and protect diverse social groups) renders distinct social groups invisible within societal and institutional frameworks (Citation: Bauer, G. R., Hammond, R., Travers, R., Kaay, M., Hohenadel, K. M., & Boyce, M. (2009). “I Don’t Think This Is Theoretical; This Is Our Lives”: How Erasure Impacts Health Care for Transgender People. The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 20(5),
348–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jana.2009.07.004
Heterosexism
Prejudice or discrimination against what is perceived as a nonheterosexual form of behavior, relationship, or community. Heterosesim is based on the belief that heterosexuality is the normative and natural expression of sexuality.
Homophobia/Heterosexism
The fear, dread, prejudice, discrimination, and hatred of nonheterosexual forms of behavior, relationships, and communities (e.g., individuals who identify as bisexual, lesbian, or gay, among other sexual identities).
Islamophobia
The fear, prejudice, and hatred toward Islam and Muslims. Such sentiments about Islam as a religion or ideas about Muslims as a religious, cultural, or ethnic group have historically contributed to hostility and violence (e.g., hate speech and crimes), and social and political discrimination against people who are Muslim, but also against those who may be perceived to be of Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African descent. A full definition of Islamophobia can be on the United Nations website.
Marginalization
The assignment of a person or group to an unimportant or powerless position within a society, institution, or group. Marginalized populations are inclusive of groups whose social, economic, educational, and other forms of access and power are restricted because of their age, gender identity, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, immigration status, language, disability, and socioeconomic status, among many other reasons.
Microaggressions
Commonly occurring, subtle verbal or nonverbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities that communicate bias, prejudice, and derogatory attitudes toward members of a marginalized group (e.g., racial, ethnic, religious, and gender minorities, among others). Microaggressions may be intentional or unintentional and may accumulate over time leading to psychological and physiological harm.
Oppression
The combination of unjust, prejudicial, and institutional power that creates a state and process through which institutions regularly and systematically discriminate against some groups and benefit others. The state of oppression is unequal group access to power and privilege, while the process of oppression is the ways in which inequality is maintained.
Prejudice
An adverse attitude toward a person or group that is formed in the absence of experience or sufficient knowledge. Prejudices may include affective components (e.g., nervousness, anger, contempt, pity, hatred) and cognitive components (i.e., assumptions, beliefs, and stereotypes about people and groups. Prejudice can be conscious or unconscious, and is typically manifested through discriminatory behavior.
Privilege
Unearned access, power, immunity, and advantages that are unequally distributed, and thereby granted to distinct groups of people because of their actual or perceived membership to a particular social group (e.g., race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, ability status, sexuality, and age, among others). Privilege can be experienced at individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels in relation to rights, benefits, social and physical comfort, opportunities, and the ability to define what is normative and valued. The social, economic, political, and psychological unearned advantages that privileged groups hold come at the expense of marginalized groups, whereby they are excluded from power and position.
Racism
A system of power that structures opportunity and assigns value to people based on their ancestry and phenotypic properties (e.g., skin color and hair texture associated with “race” in the United States). Racism encompasses interpersonal interactions involving racial discrimination, cultural imagery, harmful stereotypes of people of color, and policies and practices that systematically disadvantage people of color in education, housing, healthcare, and employment, among other sociocultural systems. These disadvantages result in racial disparities in myriad social domains.
Cultural Racism
The assertion of dominance and perceived racial-ethnic superiority of one social group over others. This dominance and perceived superiority are rationalized through the use of culturally constructed indicators such as language use, religious practice, immigrant status, dependency on social welfare, and the assertion and profiling of marginalized racial-ethnic groups being involved in criminal and terrorist behaviors.
Institutional Racism:
Institutional racism encompasses the policies, procedures, and practices within societal institutions (e.g., educational institutions, government bodies, healthcare systems, employers, housing entities, and financial institutions, among others) that perpetuate the marginalization and subjugation of racial-ethnic minority groups in a particular society.
Structural Racism:
Structural racism emerges from the interconnected and combined impacts of institutional racism. It encompasses the laws, policies, and practices across myriad institutions that sustain White supremacy, resulting in enduring, cumulative, harmful race-ethnicity-based disparities. This concept also includes the failure to rectify policies and practices that were explicitly or implicitly designed to be racist.
Interpersonal Racism:
Interpersonal racism occurs when individuals from socially and politically dominant racial-ethnic groups engage in behaviors that diminish and harm individuals belonging to other racial-ethnic groups. It is a manifestation of prejudice.
Internalized Racism:
Internalized racism refers to the interpersonal impact experienced by people of color, wherein individuals internalize negative societal beliefs and stereotypes about themselves. This may include beliefs about complexion and color that reinforce the perceived superiority of White people and may lead to self-perceptions of being devalued, worthless, and powerless.
Religious Discrimination
Prejudice and biased actions against individuals and groups based on their religious, and/or spiritual beliefs, practice, adherence, identification, and/or affiliation. Such discrimination can be carried out by individuals, groups, and governments. Examples include social ostracism against individuals based on their religion, desecration of religious buildings or sites, and violence or other hate crimes targeted toward adherents of particular faith traditions. See
VCU Religious Accommodation Guidance for more information.
Stereotype
A set of preconceived generalizations (e.g., ideas, beliefs, expectations) about the qualities and characteristics of individuals actually or perceived to belong to a social group or category (e.g.,Women, Men, Non-binary and Transgender individuals, individuals with disabilities, among others).
Transphobia
The fear, prejudice, discrimination, and hatred of transgender, gender expansive, gender independent, and nonbinary people.
Weight Stigma or Sizeism
Prejudice or discrimination directed against individuals because of their body size. Like other forms of bias and discrimination, weight stigma, also called sizeism, can contribute to psychological distress and negative physiological health outcomes.
Xenophobia
The fear, prejudicial attitudes, or hatred of people of other nationalities, ethnic groups, regions, or neighborhoods. Such sentiments have historically resulted in many forms of violence against individuals who may be or are perceived to be immigrants or refugees.