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135-499: The ‘Equality Project’ of HCLU works against state-level discrimination of the most vulnerable groups within society, as well as to create equal opportunities for these groups. There are two groups that are the main focuses of this project: the Roma people living in extreme poverty who are typically subjected to segregated conditions; and people living with disabilities , who are often isolated in their living conditions, and are being denied

270-456: A French speaker . Based on a difference in use of language, a person may automatically form judgments about another person's wealth , education , social status , character or other traits, which may lead to discrimination. This has led to public debate surrounding localisation theories , likewise with overall diversity prevalence in numerous nations across the West . Linguistic discrimination

405-415: A mixed strategy when playing against players assigned the same color as their own. The experimenters then added a cooperation option to the game, and found that disadvantaged players usually cooperated with each other, while advantaged players usually did not. They state that while the equilibria reached in the original hawk-dove game are predicted by evolutionary game theory , game theory does not explain

540-613: A 1979 consultation on the issue, the United States commission on civil rights defined religious discrimination in relation to the civil rights which are guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment . Whereas religious civil liberties, such as the right to hold or not to hold a religious belief, are essential for Freedom of Religion (in the United States as secured by the First Amendment ), religious discrimination occurs when someone

675-437: A Darwinian evolution of institutions over time. Public choice theory , another branch of economics with a close relationship to political science, considers how government policy choices are made, and seeks to determine what the policy outputs are likely to be, given a particular political decision-making process and context. Credibility thesis purports that institutions emerge from intentional institution-building but never in

810-434: A bargain. Artificial implementation of institutional change has been tested in political development but can have unintended consequences. North, Wallis, and Weingast divide societies into different social orders: open access orders, which about a dozen developed countries fall into today, and limited access orders, which accounts for the rest of the countries. Open access orders and limited access orders differ fundamentally in

945-407: A certain socially undesirable group or social category. Before this sense of the word became almost universal, it was a synonym for discernment, tact and culture as in "taste and discrimination", generally a laudable attribute; to "discriminate against" being commonly disparaged. Moral philosophers have defined discrimination using a moralized definition. Under this approach, discrimination

1080-408: A cluster of institutions; the two are distinct in the sense that organizations contain internal institutions (that govern interactions between the members of the organizations). An informal institution tends to have socially shared rules, which are unwritten and yet are often known by all inhabitants of a certain country, as such they are often referred to as being an inherent part of the culture of

1215-426: A country's constitution; or that they may evolve over time as societies evolve. In the case of institutional evolution, it is harder to see them since societal changes happen in a slow manner, despite the perception that institutional change is rapid. Furthermore, institutions change incrementally because of how embedded they are in society. North argues that the nature of these changes is complicated process because of

1350-407: A country. Legitimacy allows for there to be an incentive to comply with institutional rules and conditions, leading to a more effective institution. With political power, its centralization within a small group of individual leaders makes it easier and more effective to create rules and run an institution smoothly. However, it can be abused by individual leaders which is something that can contribute to

1485-403: A custom might call for each party to keep to their own right (or left—such a choice is arbitrary, it is only necessary that the choice be uniform and consistent). Such customs may be supposed to be the origin of rules, such as the rule, adopted in many countries, which requires driving automobiles on the right side of the road. Secondly, how do institutions affect behaviour? In this perspective,

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1620-489: A different race or ethnicity . Modern variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of social actions , practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. It has been official government policy in several countries, such as South Africa during

1755-406: A given country. Informal practices are often referred to as "cultural", for example clientelism or corruption is sometimes stated as a part of the political culture in a certain place, but an informal institution itself is not cultural, it may be shaped by culture or behaviour of a given political landscape, but they should be looked at in the same way as formal institutions to understand their role in

1890-404: A given country. The relationship between formal and informal institutions is often closely aligned and informal institutions step in to prop up inefficient institutions. However, because they do not have a centre, which directs and coordinates their actions, changing informal institutions is a slow and lengthy process. According to Geoffrey M. Hodgson , it is misleading to say that an institution

2025-533: A large portion of Europe, was subjected to discrimination under Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party between 1933 and 1945. They were forced to live in ghettos, wear an identifying star of David on their clothes, and sent to concentration and death camps in rural Germany and Poland, where they were to be tortured and killed, all because of their Jewish religion. Many laws (most prominently the Nuremberg Laws of 1935) separated those of Jewish faith as supposedly inferior to

2160-537: A lesbian sexual orientation (by means of mentioning an engagement in a rainbow organisation or by mentioning one's partner name) lowers employment opportunities in Cyprus and Greece but overall, it has no negative effect in Sweden and Belgium. In the latter country, even a positive effect of revealing a lesbian sexual orientation is found for women at their fertile ages. Besides these academic studies, in 2009, ILGA published

2295-411: A mental institution. To this extent, "institutionalization" may carry negative connotations regarding the treatment of, and damage caused to, vulnerable human beings by the oppressive or corrupt application of inflexible systems of social, medical, or legal controls by publicly owned, private or not-for-profit organizations. The term "institutionalization" may also be used in a political sense to apply to

2430-533: A name's fluency is subtle, small and subject to significantly changing norms. The Anti-discrimination laws of most countries allow and make exceptions for discrimination based on nationality and immigration status. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) does not prohibit discrimination by nationality, citizenship or naturalization but forbids discrimination "against any particular nationality". Discrimination on

2565-475: A number of basic needs for an individual such as collective purpose, social contact, status, and activity. A person with a disability is often found to be socially isolated and work is one way to reduce his or her isolation. In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act mandates the provision of equality of access to both buildings and services and is paralleled by similar acts in other countries, such as

2700-540: A particular institutional arrangement. Other approaches see institutional development as the result of evolutionary or learning processes. For instance, Pavlović explores the way compliance and socio-economic conditions in a consolidated democratic state are important in the emergence of institutions and the compliance power they have for the rules imposed. In his work, he explains the difference between wealthy societies and non-wealthy societies; wealthy societies on one hand often have institutions that have been functioning for

2835-407: A particular race out of a racist attitude, he or she will be acting in a discriminatory way even if he or she actually benefits the people he discriminates against by donating some money to them. Discrimination also develops into a source of oppression , the action of recognizing someone as 'different' so much that they are treated inhumanly and degraded. This moralized definition of discrimination

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2970-465: A particular time, culture and society, produced by collective human choice, though not directly by individual intention. Sociology traditionally analyzed social institutions in terms of interlocking social roles and expectations. Social institutions created and were composed of groups of roles, or expected behaviors. The social function of the institution was executed by the fulfillment of roles. Basic biological requirements, for reproduction and care of

3105-487: A person's name is one of the six things they focus on most. France has made it illegal to view a person's name on a résumé when screening for the initial list of most qualified candidates. Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands have also experimented with name-blind summary processes. Some apparent discrimination may be explained by other factors such as name frequency. The effects of name discrimination based on

3240-446: A phenomenon called path dependence, which states that institutional patterns are persistent and endure over time. These paths are determined at critical junctures, analogous to a fork in the road, whose outcome leads to a narrowing of possible future outcomes. Once a choice is made during a critical juncture, it becomes progressively difficult to return to the initial point where the choice was made. James Mahoney studies path dependence in

3375-599: A report based on research carried out by Daniel Ottosson at Södertörn University College in Stockholm, Sweden . This research found that of the 80 countries around the world that continue to consider homosexuality illegal, five carry the death penalty for homosexual activity, and two do in some regions of the country. In the report, this is described as "State sponsored homophobia". This happens in Islamic states, or in two cases regions under Islamic authority. On February 5, 2005,

3510-468: A society make also have lot to do in the survival and eventual evolution of an institution: they foster groups who want to maintain the set of rules of the game (as described by North), keeping a status quo impeding institutional change. People's interests play an important role in determining the direction of institutional change and emergence. Some scholars argue that institutions can emerge spontaneously without intent as individuals and groups converge on

3645-585: A strong and active volunteer base with close to 100 members. The directors are appointed by a five-member Board. Members of the Board are elected by the General Assembly of the HCLU association. The association also has a three-member Surpervisory Board which oversees the legality of HCLU operations. HCLU's many partners include domestic and foreign individuals and institutions, as well as international organizations. HCLU

3780-584: A superficial form of Western government but with malfunctioning institutions. In a 2020 study, Johannes Gerschewski created a two-by-two typology of institutional change depending on the sources of change (exogenous or endogenous) and the time horizon of change (short or long). In another 2020 study, Erik Voeten created a two-by-two typology of institutional design depending on whether actors have full agency or are bound by structures, and whether institutional designs reflect historical processes or are optimal equilibriums. Institutions and economic development In

3915-583: A survey for the University of Kent , England, 29% of respondents stated that they had suffered from age discrimination. This is a higher proportion than for gender or racial discrimination. Dominic Abrams , social psychology professor at the university, concluded that ageism is the most pervasive form of prejudice experienced in the UK population. According to UNICEF and Human Rights Watch , caste discrimination affects an estimated 250 million people worldwide and

4050-441: A system of human-made, nonphysical elements – norms, beliefs, organizations, and rules – exogenous to each individual whose behavior it influences that generates behavioral regularities." Additionally, they specify that organizations "are institutional elements that influence the set of beliefs and norms that can be self-enforcing in the transaction under consideration. Rules are behavioral instructions that facilitate individuals with

4185-530: A system of rules that are complied with in practice and has a high risk of punishment. It is essential because it will create a slippery slope effect on most laws and transform the nature of once-effective institutions. Many may identify the creation of these formal institutions as a fitting way for agents to establish legitimacy in an international or domestic domain, a phenomenon identified by DiMaggio and Powell and Meyer and Rowan as "isomorphism" and that Levitsky and Murillo liken to window dressing. They describe

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4320-549: A technology, institutions (in the form of law, policy, social regulations, or otherwise) can become locked into a society, which in turn can shape social or economic development. Arthur notes that although institutional lock-in can be predictable, it is often difficult to change once it is locked-in because of its deep roots in social and economic frameworks. Randall Calvert defines institution as "an equilibrium of behavior in an underlying game." This means that "it must be rational for nearly every individual to almost always adhere to

4455-557: A term for such hatred based upon one's sexual orientation is often called homophobia . Many continue to hold negative feelings towards those with non-heterosexual orientations and will discriminate against people who have them or are thought to have them. People of other uncommon sexual orientations also experience discrimination. One study found its sample of heterosexuals to be more prejudiced against asexual people than against homosexual or bisexual people. Employment discrimination based on sexual orientation varies by country. Revealing

4590-482: A variety of definitions of the term institution . These definitions entail varying levels of formality and organizational complexity. The most expansive definitions may include informal but regularized practices, such as handshakes, whereas the most narrow definitions may only include institutions that are highly formalized (e.g. have specified laws, rules and complex organizational structures). According to Wolfgang Streeck and Kathleen Thelen , institutions are, in

4725-457: A weak institution, actors cannot depend on one another to act according to the rules, which creates barriers to collective action and collaboration. Other social scientists have examined the concept of institutional lock-in. In an article entitled "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY" (1985), economist Paul A. David describes technological lock-in as the process by which a specific technology dominates

4860-643: A while, but also have a stable economy and economic development that has a direct effect in the society's democratic stability. He presents us with three scenarios in which institutions may thrive in poor societies with no democratic background. First, if electoral institutions guarantee multiple elections that are widely accepted; second, if military power is in evenly equilibrium; and third, if this institutions allow for different actors to come to power. Other scholars see institutions as being formed through social contracts or rational purposeful designs. Origin of institutional theory John Meyer and Brian Rowan were

4995-510: A young adult job applicant than an older job applicant. In Europe, Stijn Baert, Jennifer Norga, Yannick Thuy and Marieke Van Hecke, researchers at Ghent University , measured comparable ratios in Belgium. They found that age discrimination is heterogeneous by the activity older candidates undertook during their additional post-educational years. In Belgium, they are only discriminated if they have more years of inactivity or irrelevant employment. In

5130-529: Is de facto (informal) institutions as opposed to de jure (formal) institutions in observing cross-country differences. For instance, Lars Feld and Stefan Voigt found that real GDP growth per capita is positively correlated with de facto , not de juri , institutions that are judicially independent. Scholars have also focused on the interaction between formal and informal institutions as well as how informal institutions may create incentives to comply with otherwise weak formal institutions. This departure from

5265-449: Is a form of behavior. Instead, Hodgson states that institutions are "integrated systems of rules that structure social interactions." Examples of institutions include: In an extended context: While institutions tend to appear to people in society as part of the natural, unchanging landscape of their lives, the study of institutions by the social sciences tends to reveal the nature of institutions as social constructions , artifacts of

5400-527: Is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and norms are all examples of institutions. Institutions vary in their level of formality and informality. Institutions are a principal object of study in social sciences such as political science , anthropology , economics , and sociology (the latter described by Émile Durkheim as

5535-955: Is a utilitarian argument that assumes institutions will evolve to maximize overall welfare for economic efficiency. Contrastingly, in Variation in Institutional Strength , Levitksy and Murillo acknowledge that some formal institutions are "born weak," and attribute this to the actors creating them. They argue that the strength of institutions relies on the enforcement of laws and stability, which many actors are either uninterested in or incapable of supporting. Similarly, Brian Arthur refers to these factors as properties of non-predictability and potential inefficiency in matters where increasing returns occur naturally in economics. According to Mansfield and Snyder, many transitional democracies lack state institutions that are strong and coherent enough to regulate mass political competition. According to Huntington,

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5670-467: Is defined as acts, practices, or policies that wrongfully impose a relative disadvantage or deprivation on persons based on their membership in a salient social group. This is a comparative definition. An individual need not be actually harmed in order to be discriminated against. He or she just needs to be treated worse than others for some arbitrary reason. If someone decides to donate to help orphan children, but decides to donate less, say, to children of

5805-470: Is denied "equal protection under the law, equality of status under the law, equal treatment in the administration of justice, and equality of opportunity and access to employment, education, housing, public services and facilities, and public accommodation because of their exercise of their right to religious freedom". Sexism is a form of discrimination based on a person's sex or gender. It has been linked to stereotypes and gender roles , and may include

5940-443: Is distinct from a non-moralized definition - in the former, discrimination is wrong by definition, whereas in the latter, this is not the case. The United Nations stance on discrimination includes the statement: "Discriminatory behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or rejection." The United Nations Human Rights Council and other international bodies work towards helping ending discrimination around

6075-432: Is important to understand what drives institutional change. Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson assert that institutional change is endogenous. They posit a framework for institutional change that is rooted in the distribution of resources across society and preexisting political institutions. These two factors determine de jure and de facto political power, respectively, which in turn defines this period's economic institutions and

6210-425: Is led by Executive Director Stefánia Kapronczay and Director of Programs Máté Dániel Szabó. They share the responsibility of strategy-making and overseeing the legal and policy work of the HCLU's programs. HCLU's daily operations are run by a staff of about 40: heads of project, project officers, communications personnel, a video advocacy team, attorneys, administrative staff, fundraising staff. The organization also has

6345-453: Is mainly prevalent in parts of Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Japan) and Africa. As of 2011 , there were 200 million Dalits or Scheduled Castes (formerly known as "untouchables") in India. Discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not is called ableism or disablism . Disability discrimination, which treats non-disabled individuals as

6480-598: Is member to two international groups of civil liberties organizations, the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) and the Civil Liberties Union of Europe (Liberties). Beside these, HCLU is partnering with many organizations, including local groups of activists and a national foundation of community organizers. Discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on

6615-443: Is the mimetic process where organizations adopt other organizations' practices to resolve internal uncertainty about their own actions or strategy. Lastly, it is the normative pressure where organizations adopt changes related to the professional environment like corporate changes or cultural changes in order to be consistent. In order to understand why some institutions persist and other institutions only appear in certain contexts, it

6750-650: The Cournot duopoly model is based on an institution involving an auctioneer who sells all goods at the market-clearing price. While it is always possible to analyze behaviour with the institutions-as-equilibria approach instead, it is much more complicated. In political science , the effect of institutions on behavior has also been considered from a meme perspective, like game theory borrowed from biology. A "memetic institutionalism" has been proposed, suggesting that institutions provide selection environments for political action, whereby differentiated retention arises and thereby

6885-601: The Equality Act 2010 in the UK. Linguistic discrimination (also called glottophobia, linguicism and languagism) is unfair treatment of people based upon their use of language and the characteristics of their speech, such as their first language , their accent , the perceived size of their vocabulary (whether or not the speaker uses complex and varied words), their modality , and their syntax . For example, an Occitan speaker in France will probably be treated differently from

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7020-501: The IRIN issued a reported titled "Iraq: Male homosexuality still a taboo". The article stated, among other things that honor killings by Iraqis against a gay family member are common and given some legal protection. In August 2009, Human Rights Watch published an extensive report detailing torture of men accused of being gay in Iraq , including the blocking of men's anuses with glue and then giving

7155-519: The apartheid era. Discriminatory policies towards ethnic minorities include the race-based discrimination against ethnic Indians and Chinese in Malaysia After the Vietnam War , many Vietnamese refugees moved to Australia and the United States, where they faced discrimination. Regional or geographic discrimination is a form of discrimination that is based on the region in which a person lives or

7290-426: The private life of citizens is only to the extent that is absolutely necessary; and to ensure that the state offers relevant services that are required for citizens to exercise their fundamental human rights (such as health care, public education or social services) at an adequate level. It pays particular attention to the effectiveness of the right to free choice related to decisions on healthcare (e.g. abortion ); to

7425-449: The southern or northern regions of the United States. It is often accompanied by discrimination that is based on accent, dialect, or cultural differences. Religious discrimination is valuing or treating people or groups differently because of what they do or do not believe in or because of their feelings towards a given religion . For instance, the Jewish population of Germany, and indeed

7560-469: The "lock-in" phenomenon in which adds a lot of value to a piece of technology that is used by many people. It is important for policymakers and people of higher levels within an institution to consider when looking at products that have a long term impact on markets and economic developments and stability. For example, recently the EU has banned TikTok from official devices across all three government institutions. This

7695-482: The "science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning"). Primary or meta-institutions are institutions such as the family or money that are broad enough to encompass sets of related institutions. Institutions are also a central concern for law , the formal mechanism for political rule-making and enforcement. Historians study and document the founding, growth, decay and development of institutions as part of political, economic and cultural history. There are

7830-465: The Central American countries. Though institutions are persistent, North states that paths can change course when external forces weaken the power of an existing organization. This allows other entrepreneurs to affect change in the institutional framework. This change can also occur as a result of gridlock between political actors produced by a lack of mediating institutions and an inability to reach

7965-524: The Christian population. Restrictions on the types of occupations that Jewish people could hold were imposed by Christian authorities. Local rulers and church officials closed many professions to religious Jews, pushing them into marginal roles that were considered socially inferior, such as tax and rent collecting and moneylending , occupations that were only tolerated as a " necessary evil ". The number of Jews who were permitted to reside in different places

8100-650: The English language. It is from the Latin discriminat- 'distinguished between', from the verb discriminare , from discrimen 'distinction', from the verb discernere (corresponding to "to discern"). Since the American Civil War the term "discrimination" generally evolved in American English usage as an understanding of prejudicial treatment of an individual based solely on their race, later generalized as membership in

8235-602: The Japanese people and government. Under this analysis, says Ian Lustick, Japan was stuck on a "local maxima", which it arrived at through gradual increases in its fitness level, set by the economic landscape of the 1970s and 80s. Without an accompanying change in institutional flexibility, Japan was unable to adapt to changing conditions, and even though experts may have known which changes the country needed, they would have been virtually powerless to enact those changes without instituting unpopular policies that would have been harmful in

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8370-516: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 is also aimed at ending all forms of discrimination on the basis of gender and sex. One's sexual orientation is a "predilection for homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality". Like most minority groups, homosexuals and bisexuals are vulnerable to prejudice and discrimination from the majority group. They may experience hatred from others because of their sexuality;

8505-480: The United States have proposed that institutional discrimination and cultural racism also give rise to conditions that contribute to persisting racial and economic health disparities. Institution 1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville  ·  Marx ·  Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto ·  Tönnies · Veblen ·  Simmel · Durkheim ·  Addams ·  Mead · Weber ·  Du Bois ·  Mannheim · Elias An institution

8640-400: The ability to cause change over a long period of time. For example, Levitsky and Murillo stress the importance of institutional strength in their article "Variation in Institutional Strength." They suggest that in order for an institution to maintain strength and resistance there must be legitimacy within the different political regimes, variation in political power, and political autonomy within

8775-440: The amount of freedom of a society, or the quality of life of the individuals within. The term "institutionalization" is widely used in social theory to refer to the process of embedding something (for example a concept, a social role, a particular value or mode of behavior) within an organization, social system, or society as a whole. The term may also be used to refer to committing a particular individual to an institution, such as

8910-461: The basis of nationality is usually included in employment laws (see above section for employment discrimination specifically). It is sometimes referred to as bound together with racial discrimination although it can be separate. It may vary from laws that stop refusals of hiring based on nationality, asking questions regarding origin, to prohibitions of firing, forced retirement, compensation and pay, etc., based on nationality. Discrimination on

9045-587: The basis of nationality may show as a "level of acceptance" in a sport or work team regarding new team members and employees who differ from the nationality of the majority of team members. In the GCC states, in the workplace, preferential treatment is given to full citizens, even though many of them lack experience or motivation to do the job. State benefits are also generally available for citizens only. Westerners might also get paid more than other expatriates. Racial and ethnic discrimination differentiates individuals on

9180-430: The basis of real and perceived racial and ethnic differences and leads to various forms of the ethnic penalty . It can also refer to the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice , discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of

9315-443: The behavior prescriptions of the institution, given that nearly all other individuals are doing so." Robert Keohane defined institutions as "persistent and connected sets of rules (formal or informal) that prescribe behavioral roles, constrain activity, and shape expectations." Samuel P. Huntington defined institutions as "stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior." Avner Greif and David Laitin define institutions "as

9450-670: The belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another. Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment , rape , and other forms of sexual violence . Gender discrimination may encompass sexism and is discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences. Gender discrimination is especially defined in terms of workplace inequality . It may arise from social or cultural customs and norms. Intersex persons experience discrimination due to innate, atypical sex characteristics . Multiple jurisdictions now protect individuals on grounds of intersex status or sex characteristics . South Africa

9585-421: The benefits they can derive from the change. North describes the institutional change as a process that is extremely incremental, and that works through both formal and informal institutions. North also proposes that institutional change, inefficiencies, and economic stagnation can be attributed to the differences between institutions and organizations. This is because organizations are created to take advantage of

9720-430: The changes in rules, informal constraints, and the effectiveness of enforcement of these institutions. Levitsky and Murillo explore the way institutions are created. When it comes to institutional design, the timeframe in which these institutions are created by different actors may affect the stability the institution will have on society, because in these cases the actors may have more (or less) time to fully calculate

9855-420: The cognitive task of choosing behavior by defining the situation and coordinating behavior." All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and norms are all examples of institutions. Organizations and institutions can be synonymous, but Jack Knight writes that organizations are a narrow version of institutions or represent

9990-404: The concept of a fitness landscape and local maxima only makes sense if one institution can be said to be "better" than another, and this in turn only makes sense insofar as there exists some objective measure of an institution's quality. This may be relatively simple in evaluating the economic prosperity of a society, for example, but it is difficult to see how objectively a measure can be applied to

10125-479: The concept only to socially salient groups is arbitrary, as well as raising issues of determining which groups would count as socially salient. The issue of which groups should count has caused many political and social debates. Based on realistic-conflict theory and social-identity theory, Rubin and Hewstone have highlighted a distinction among three types of discrimination: Discrimination, in labeling theory , takes form as mental categorization of minorities and

10260-502: The context of institutions and how they are formed, North suggests that institutions ultimately work to provide social structure in society and to incentivize individuals who abide by this structure. North explains that there is in fact a difference between institutions and organizations and that organizations are "groups of people bound by some common purpose to achieve objectives." Additionally, because institutions serve as an umbrella for smaller groups such as organizations, North discusses

10395-488: The context of national regime change in Central America and finds that liberal policy choices of Central American leaders in the 19th century was the critical juncture that led to the divergent levels of development that we see in these countries today. The policy choices that leaders made in the context of liberal reform policy led to a variety of self-reinforcing institutions that created divergent development outcomes for

10530-671: The costs of exchange and production. He emphasizes that small historical and cultural features can drastically change the nature of an institution. Daron Acemoglu , Simon Johnson , and James A. Robinson agree with the analysis presented by North. They write that institutions play a crucial role in the trajectory of economic growth because economic institutions shape the opportunities and constraints of investment. Economic incentives also shape political behavior, as certain groups receive more advantages from economic outcomes than others, which allow them to gain political control. A separate paper by Acemoglu, Robinson, and Francisco A. Gallego details

10665-451: The countries with ineffective or weak institutions often have a gap between high levels of political participation and weak political institutions, which may provoke nationalism in democratizing countries. Regardless of whether the lack of enforcement and stability in institutions is intentional or not, weakly enforced institutions can create lasting ripples in a society and their way of functioning. Good enforcement of laws can be classified as

10800-443: The definition of discrimination should be. Some philosophers have argued that discrimination should only refer to wrongful or disadvantageous treatment in the context of a socially salient group (such as race, gender, sexuality etc.) within a given context. Under this view, failure to limit the concept of discrimination would lead to it being overinclusive; for example, since most murders occur because of some perceived difference between

10935-430: The developing world institutions as "window-dressing institutions" that "are often a response to international demands or expectations." It also provides an effective metaphor for something that power holders have an interest in keeping on the books, but no interest in enforcing. The dependence developing countries have on international assistance for loans or political power creates incentives for state elites to establish

11070-721: The early- to mid-1970s, a time period that focused on under-representation and action policies intended to remedy the effects of past discrimination in both government and the business world. Article 15 of the Constitution of India prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds of caste, religion, sex, race or place of birth etc. Similarly, the Constitution of India guarantees several rights to all citizens irrespective of gender, such as right to equality under Article 14, right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. Indian Penal Code , 1860 (Section 153 A) - Criminalises

11205-554: The emergence of cooperation in the disadvantaged group. Citing earlier psychological work of Matthew Rabin , they hypothesize that a norm of differing entitlements emerges across the two groups, and that this norm could define a "fairness" equilibrium within the disadvantaged group. The psychological impact of discrimination on health refers to the cognitive pathways through which discrimination impacts mental and physical health in members of marginalized , subordinate, and low-status groups (e.g. racial and sexual minorities). Research on

11340-458: The experimental laboratory", and that neither classical game theory nor neoclassical economics can explain this. In 2002, Varoufakis and Shaun Hargreaves-Heap ran an experiment where volunteers played a computer-mediated, multiround hawk-dove game . At the start of each session, each participant was assigned a color at random, either red or blue. At each round, each player learned the color assigned to his or her opponent, but nothing else about

11475-585: The extent that they are associated with changes in institutions. In European history, particular significance is attached to the long transition from the feudal institutions of the Middle Ages to the modern institutions, which govern contemporary life. Scholars have proposed different approaches to the emergence of institutions, such as spontaneous emergence, evolution and social contracts. In Institutions: Institutional Change and Economic Performance , Douglas North argues that institutions may be created, such as

11610-456: The faults of these policies. As an example, Lustick cites Amyx's analysis of the gradual rise of the Japanese economy and its seemingly sudden reversal in the so-called "Lost Decade" . According to Amyx, Japanese experts were not unaware of the possible causes of Japan's economic decline. Rather, to return Japan's economy back to the path to economic prosperity, policymakers would have had to adopt policies that would first cause short-term harm to

11745-626: The first scholars to introduce institutional theory to inspect how organizations are shaped by their social and political environments and how they evolve in different ways. Other scholars like Paul DiMaggio and Walter Powell proposed one of the forms of institutional change shortly after: institutional isomorphism. There were three main proposals. The first one is the coercive process where organizations adopt changes consistent with their larger institution due to pressures from other organizations which they might depend on or be regulated by. Such examples include state mandates or supplier demands. The second one

11880-559: The focus is on behaviour arising from a given set of institutional rules. In these models, institutions determine the rules (i.e. strategy sets and utility functions) of games, rather than arise as equilibria out of games. Douglass North argues, the very emergence of an institution reflects behavioral adaptations through his application of increasing returns . Over time institutions develop rules that incentivize certain behaviors over others because they present less risk or induce lower cost, and establish path dependent outcomes. For example,

12015-435: The formation of smaller groups with other goals and objectives is crucial for an institution's survival. Additionally, technological developments are important in the economic development of an institution. As detailed by Brian Arthur in "Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-in by Historical Events", technological advancements play a crucial role in shaping the economic stability of an institution. He talks about

12150-603: The groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race , gender , age , species , religion , physical attractiveness or sexual orientation . Discrimination typically leads to groups being unfairly treated on the basis of perceived statuses based on ethnic, racial, gender or religious categories. It involves depriving members of one group of opportunities or privileges that are available to members of another group. Discriminatory traditions, policies, ideas, practices and laws exist in many countries and institutions in all parts of

12285-461: The impact of institutional change and the ways in which it can cause economic performance to decline or become better depending on the occurrence. This is known as "path dependence" which North explains is the idea of historical and cultural events impacting the development of institutions over time. Even though North argues that institutions due to their structure do not possess the ability to change drastically, path dependence and small differences have

12420-467: The impact of institutions on economic development in various countries, concluding that institutions in prosperous countries like the United States induced a net increase in productivity, whereas institutions in Third World countries caused a net decrease. Scholars of this period assumed that "parchment institutions" that were codified as law would largely guide the behavior of individuals as intended. On

12555-495: The impacts the institution in question will have, the way the new rules affect people's interests and their own, and the consequences of the creation of a new institution will have in society. Scholars like Christopher Kingston and Gonzalo Caballero also pose the importance of gradual societal change in the emergence of brand new institutions: these changes will determine which institutions will be successful in surviving, spreading, and becoming successful. The decisions actors within

12690-519: The importance of institutional strength can be found in Lacatus' essay on national human rights institutions in Europe, where she states that "As countries become members of GANHRI, their NHRIs are more likely to become stronger over time and show a general pattern of isomorphism regarding stronger safeguards for durability." This demonstrates that institutions running independently and further creating spaces for

12825-503: The inability of institutions to adapt as a symptom of being stuck on a local maxima within a fitness landscape does nothing to solve the problem. At the very least, however, it might add credibility to the idea that truly beneficial change might require short-term harm to institutions and their members. David Sloan Wilson notes that Lustick needs to more carefully distinguish between two concepts: multilevel selection theory and evolution on multi-peaked landscapes. Bradley Thayer points out that

12960-497: The individual actors within an institution. This can also be seen in the recent issue with Silvergate and money being moved to crypto exchanges under the SEN Platform institution, which has led the bank to "delay the filing of its annual report due to questions from its auditors." Additionally, they lost many crypto clients the next day allowing the bank's stock price to fall by 60% before it stabilized again. These examples demonstrate

13095-407: The individual liberty of a truly free society. Economics , in recent years, has used game theory to study institutions from two perspectives. Firstly, how do institutions survive and evolve? In this perspective, institutions arise from Nash equilibria of games. For example, whenever people pass each other in a corridor or thoroughfare, there is a need for customs, which avoid collisions. Such

13230-411: The institution to improve any further, it would first need to decrease its overall fitness score (e.g., adopt policies that may cause short-term harm to the institution's members). The tendency to get stuck on local maxima can explain why certain types of institutions may continue to have policies that are harmful to its members or to the institution itself, even when members and leadership are all aware of

13365-433: The majority group. In such cases it is intended to remove discrimination that minority groups may already face. Reverse discrimination can be defined as the unequal treatment of members of the majority groups resulting from preferential policies, as in college admissions or employment, intended to remedy earlier discrimination against minorities. Conceptualizing affirmative action as reverse discrimination became popular in

13500-404: The market, even when the technology is not the most efficient of the ones available. He proceeds to explain that lock-in is a result of path-dependence, where the early choice of technology in a market forces other actors to choose that technology regardless of their natural preferences, causing that technology to "lock-in". Economist W. Brian Arthur applied David's theories to institutions. As with

13635-721: The men laxatives. Although gay marriage has been legal in South Africa since 2006, same-sex unions are often condemned as "un-African". Research conducted in 2009 shows 86% of black lesbians from the Western Cape live in fear of sexual assault. A number of countries, especially those in the Western world , have passed measures to alleviate discrimination against sexual minorities, including laws against anti-gay hate crimes and workplace discrimination. Some have also legalized same-sex marriage or civil unions in order to grant same-sex couples

13770-569: The most general sense, "building blocks of social order: they represent socially sanctioned, that is, collectively enforced expectations with respect to the behavior of specific categories of actors or to the performance of certain activities. Typically, they involve mutually related rights and obligations for actors." Sociologists and anthropologists have expansive definitions of institutions that include informal institutions. Political scientists have sometimes defined institutions in more formal ways where third parties must reliably and predictably enforce

13905-426: The next period's political institutions. Finally, the current economic institutions determine next period's distribution of resources and the cycle repeats. Douglass North attributes institutional change to the work of "political entrepreneurs", who see personal opportunities to be derived from a changed institutional framework. These entrepreneurs weigh the expected costs of altering the institutional framework against

14040-570: The operation of the state. It gives particular consideration to the freedom of expression and the freedom of press ; the right of assembly ; the transparent functioning of the state and the freedom of information facilitating it; as well as the exercise of participatory rights, in particular the exercise of electoral rights. It does not accept any funding by the Hungarian state nor any donation from political parties . Its revenues are from private individuals, companies and private foundations. HCLU

14175-431: The opponent. Hargreaves-Heap and Varoufakis found that the players' behavior within a session frequently developed a discriminatory convention, giving a Nash equilibrium where players of one color (the "advantaged" color) consistently played the aggressive "hawk" strategy against players of the other, "disadvantaged" color, who played the acquiescent "dove" strategy against the advantaged color. Players of both colors used

14310-638: The opportunities created by institutions and, as organizations evolve, these institutions are then altered. Overall, according to North, this institutional change would then be shaped by a lock-in symbiotic relationship between institutions and organizations and a feedback process by which the people in a society may perceive and react to these changes. Lipscomb argues that patterns of institutional change vary according to underlying characteristics of issue areas, such as network effects. North also offers an efficiency hypothesis, stating that relative price changes create incentives to create more efficient institutions. It

14445-404: The originally intended form. Instead, institutional development is endogenous and spontaneously ordered and institutional persistence can be explained by their credibility, which is provided by the function that particular institutions serve. Political scientists have traditionally studied the causes and consequences of formal institutional design. For instance, Douglass North investigated

14580-546: The other hand, recent scholars began to study the importance of institutional strength, which Steven Levitsky and María Victoria Murillo define in terms of the level of enforcement and sustainability of an institution. Weak institutions with low enforcement or low sustainability led to the deterioration of democratic institutions in Madagascar and the erosion of economic structures in China. Another area of interest for modern scholars

14715-418: The perpetrator and the victim, many murders would constitute discrimination if the social salience requirement is not included. Thus this view argues that making the definition of discrimination overinclusive renders it meaningless. Conversely, other philosophers argue that discrimination should simply refer to wrongful disadvantageous treatment regardless of the social salience of the group, arguing that limiting

14850-467: The region in which a person was born. It differs from national discrimination because it may not be based on national borders or the country in which the victim lives, instead, it is based on prejudices against a specific region of one or more countries. Examples include discrimination against Chinese people who were born in regions of the countryside that are far away from cities that are located within China, and discrimination against Americans who are from

14985-440: The relation between discrimination and health became a topic of interest in the 1990s, when researchers proposed that persisting racial/ethnic disparities in health outcomes could potentially be explained by racial/ethnic differences in experiences with discrimination. Although the bulk of the research tend to focus on the interactions between interpersonal discrimination and health, researchers studying discrimination and health in

15120-499: The relationships between institutions, human capital, and economic development. They argue that institutions set an equal playing field for competition, making institutional strength a key factor in economic growth. Authors Steven Levitsky and María Victoria Murillo claim that institutional strength depends on two factors: stability and enforcement. An unstable, unenforced institution is one where weak rules are ignored and actors are unable to make expectations based on their behavior. In

15255-424: The right to be free from government sponsored social discrimination. Due to a belief in the capacity to perceive pain or suffering shared by all animals, abolitionist or vegan egalitarianism maintains that the interests of every individual (regardless of their species), warrant equal consideration with the interests of humans, and that not doing so is speciesist . Philosophers have debated as to how inclusive

15390-478: The right to make decisions regarding their own lives even when they are adults. HCLU also adheres to the equal rights of other vulnerable groups, especially homeless people, refugees, members of the LGBTQI community . Nevertheless, primarily its partner organisations handle the protection of the rights of these latter groups of society. The main objectives of the ‘Privacy Project’ are to ensure that state intervention into

15525-453: The rights of patients, including the right to access to safe and efficient medical care; to the implementation of freedom of belief , in particular to education; to state-level drug policy; and to the protection of personal data . The ‘Political Freedoms Project’ works to ensure that citizens can form their opinion on public affairs , have a say about the shaping of these without unconstitutional restrictions, and express their opinion about

15660-692: The rules governing the transactions of first and second parties. One prominent Rational Choice Institutionalist definition of institutions is provided by Jack Knight who defines institutions as entailing "a set of rules that structure social interactions in particular ways" and that "knowledge of these rules must be shared by the members of the relevant community or society." Definitions by Knight and Randall Calvert exclude purely private idiosyncrasies and conventions. Douglass North argues that institutions are "humanly devised constraints that shape interaction". According to North, they are critical determinants of economic performance, having profound effects on

15795-571: The same definition. Linguistic discrimination is culturally and socially determined due to preference for one use of language over others. Discrimination based on a person's name may also occur, with researchers suggesting that this form of discrimination is present based on a name's meaning, its pronunciation, its uniqueness, its gender affiliation, and its racial affiliation. Research has further shown that real world recruiters spend an average of just six seconds reviewing each résumé before making their initial "fit/no fit" screen-out decision and that

15930-501: The same protections and benefits as opposite-sex couples. In 2011, the United Nations passed its first resolution recognizing LGBT rights. Reverse discrimination is discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group. This discrimination may seek to redress social inequalities under which minority groups have had less access to privileges enjoyed by

16065-707: The short-term. The lessons from Lustick's analysis applied to Sweden's economic situation can similarly apply to the political gridlock that often characterizes politics in the United States. For example, Lustick observes that any politician who hopes to run for elected office stands very little to no chance if they enact policies that show no short-term results. There is a mismatch between policies that bring about short-term benefits with minimal sacrifice, and those that bring about long-lasting change by encouraging institution-level adaptations. There are some criticisms to Lustick's application of natural selection theory to institutional change. Lustick himself notes that identifying

16200-504: The social sciences, particularly those with the institution as a central concept, can benefit by applying the concept of natural selection to the study of how institutions change over time. By viewing institutions as existing within a fitness landscape , Lustick argues that the gradual improvements typical of many institutions can be seen as analogous to hill-climbing within one of these fitness landscapes. This can eventually lead to institutions becoming stuck on local maxima , such that for

16335-445: The standard of 'normal living', results in public and private places and services, educational settings, and social services that are built to serve 'standard' people, thereby excluding those with various disabilities. Studies have shown that disabled people not only need employment in order to be provided with the opportunity to earn a living but they also need employment in order to sustain their mental health and well-being. Work fulfils

16470-426: The supposed human "propensity to truck, barter and exchange". Modern feminists have criticized traditional marriage and other institutions as element of an oppressive and obsolete patriarchy . The Marxist view—which sees human nature as historically 'evolving' towards voluntary social cooperation, shared by some anarchists —is that supra-individual institutions such as the market and the state are incompatible with

16605-451: The traditional understanding of institutions reflects the scholarly recognition that a different framework of institutional analysis is necessary for studying developing economies and democracies compared to developed countries. In history, a distinction between eras or periods, implies a major and fundamental change in the system of institutions governing a society. Political and military events are judged to be of historical significance to

16740-681: The use of stereotype . This theory describes difference as deviance from the norm, which results in internal devaluation and social stigma that may be seen as discrimination. It is started by describing a "natural" social order. It is distinguished between the fundamental principle of fascism and social democracy. The Nazis in 1930s-era Germany and the pre-1990 Apartheid government of South Africa used racially discriminatory agendas for their political ends. This practice continues with some present day governments. Economist Yanis Varoufakis (2013) argues that "discrimination based on utterly arbitrary characteristics evolves quickly and systematically in

16875-440: The use of language that promotes discrimination or violence against people on the basis of race, caste, sex, place of birth, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other category. Important UN documents addressing discrimination include: Social theories such as egalitarianism assert that social equality should prevail. In some societies, including most developed countries, each individual's civil rights include

17010-432: The way power and influence is distributed. As a result, open access institutions placed in limited access orders face limited success and are often coopted by the powerful elite for self-enrichment. Transition to more democratic institutions is not created simply by transplanting these institutions into new contexts, but happens when it is in the interest of the dominant coalition to widen access. Ian Lustick suggests that

17145-525: The ways in which institutions and the economy interact, and how the well-being of the economy is essential for the institution's success and ability to run smoothly. North argues that because of the preexisting influence that existing organizations have over the existing framework, change that is brought about is often in the interests of these organizations. This is because organizations are created to take advantage of such opportunities and, as organizations evolve, these institutions are altered. This produces

17280-403: The weakening of an institution over time. Lastly, independence within an institution is vital because the institutions are making decisions based on expertise and norms that they have created and built over time rather than considerations from other groups or institutions. Having the ability to operate as an independent institution is crucial for its strength and resistance over time. An example of

17415-420: The world, including some, where such discrimination is generally decried. In some places, countervailing measures such as quotas have been used to redress the balance in favor of those who are believed to be current or past victims of discrimination. These attempts have often been met with controversy, and sometimes been called reverse discrimination . The term discriminate appeared in the early 17th century in

17550-559: The world. Ageism or age discrimination is discrimination and stereotyping based on the grounds of someone's age. It is a set of beliefs, norms, and values which used to justify discrimination or subordination based on a person's age. Ageism is most often directed toward elderly people, or adolescents and children. Age discrimination in hiring has been shown to exist in the United States. Joanna Lahey, professor at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M , found that firms are more than 40% more likely to interview

17685-655: The young, are served by the institutions of marriage and family, for example, by creating, elaborating and prescribing the behaviors expected for husband/father, wife/mother, child, etc. The relationship of the institutions to human nature is a foundational question for the social sciences. Institutions can be seen as "naturally" arising from, and conforming to, human nature—a fundamentally conservative view—or institutions can be seen as artificial, almost accidental, and in need of architectural redesign, informed by expert social analysis, to better serve human needs—a fundamentally progressive view. Adam Smith anchored his economics in

17820-485: Was at first considered an act of racism. In the mid-1980s, linguist Tove Skutnabb-Kangas captured the idea of language-based discrimination as linguicism, which was defined as "ideologies and structures which are used to legitimize, effectuate, and reproduce unequal divisions of power and resources (both material and non-material) between groups which are defined on the basis of language". Although different names have been given to this form of discrimination, they all hold

17955-456: Was due to "cybersecurity concerns" and data protection in regards to data collection by "third parties." This concern regarding TikTok's growing popularity demonstrates the importance of technological development within an institutional economy. Without understanding of what these products are doing or selling to the consumers, there runs a risk of it weakening an institution and causing more harm than good if not carefully considered and examined by

18090-725: Was limited; they were concentrated in ghettos and banned from owning land. In Saudi Arabia, non- Muslims are not allowed to publicly practice their religions and they cannot enter Mecca and Medina . Furthermore, private non-Muslim religious gatherings might be raided by the religious police . In Maldives, non-Muslims living and visiting the country are prohibited from openly expressing their religious beliefs, holding public congregations to conduct religious activities, or involving Maldivians in such activities. Those expressing religious beliefs other than Islam may face imprisonment of up to five years or house arrest, fines ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 rufiyaa ($ 320 to $ 1,300), and deportation. In

18225-420: Was the first country to explicitly add intersex to legislation, as part of the attribute of 'sex'. Australia was the first country to add an independent attribute, of 'intersex status'. Malta was the first to adopt a broader framework of 'sex characteristics', through legislation that also ended modifications to the sex characteristics of minors undertaken for social and cultural reasons. Global efforts such as

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