Institutions

Institutions have shaped my behavior, attitudes, and beliefs. Almost all social institutions such as healthcare, education, criminal justice system, sports, etc. all deal with some form of inequality, racism, discrimination, and privilege. Institutions can shape your behavior, attitudes, and beliefs because institutions surround our daily lives. The relationship between these institutions shape my understanding and view of the world due to intersectionality. Intersectionality is the interconnected nature of social identities/categorizations such as race, gender, class, and sexual orientation which apply or are given to individuals or groups and how they overlap to create unique but interdependent/compounded systems of discriminations. Also, social institutions have the ability to structure your attitudes and how you present yourself based on your own personal privilege. A lot of times it can be difficult for individuals to critically think about their own experience and how that experience can be privileged compared to others. There are many different types of privilege such as gender privilege, white privilege, socio-economic privilege, and financial privilege. I personally have experienced privilege by being able bodied, heterosexual, Christian, and middle class. Yet, there are also ways I am not privileged and experience discrimination due to my race and gender, as a Black woman. Experiencing oppression due to race and gender alters one’s experience and therefore shapes their ideologies. For Instanstance, the criminal justice system is historically known for oppressing and discriminating against individuals of color for decades. As a result of this relationship between people of color and the criminal justice system I fear any run in with police officers or law enforcement. This has shaped my beliefs to believe that the criminal justice system is an imperfect system with many flaws and needs radically change. Additionally, the healthcare system has structured my own behavior, attitudes, and beliefs due to inequality and institutional racism built into that social institution. The disheartening facts of healthcare disparities for women of color is alarming in the healthcare institution. Which has structured my behavior when dealing with doctors or nurses because as a woman of color I believe that I have to be responsible in advocating for my own care due to the long history of mistreatment and distrust. The institutional racism built into the healthcare system contributes to the lack of health insurance for communities of color, and the lack of training doctors and nurses to treat patients of color in a respectful and proper manner. Overall, there are many ways social institutions can affect an individuals attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.