Institutional racism (or structural racism) is a form of racism that occurs in institutions such as public bodies and corporations, including universities.
In the UK, the inquiry following the murder of Stephen Lawrence defined institutional racism as the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin.
Institutional racism is distinguished from the bigotry or racial bias of individuals by the existence of systemic, pervasive and habitual policies and practices that have the effect of disadvantaging certain racial or ethnic groups. Race-based discrimination in housing, employment, education and bank lending (see redlining), for example, are all forms of institutional racism.
Institutional racism is often functionally integrated.