Institutional oppression refers to the systematic mistreatment of particular social identity groups through established laws, customs or practices within a society. It isn’t something that’s always easily seen. It may not appear as blatant racism or sexism, for example, but it does play a role in institutions such as education, health care, housing and criminal justice systems.
Here to discuss these systematic inequalities and how they affect different social identity groups are Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati, Ervin (Maliq) Matthew, who recently wrote an article for CityBeat about the role of Black Lives Matter in criminal justice reform efforts; Professor in the UC School of Planning, Dr. David Varady, who teaches Housing Systems, Planning Theories, Theories of Urban Spatial Structure, Social Justice and the City, and Urban Studies; and Assistant Professor in the College of Education at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Robin Martin.