Research to Action: Structural Racism as a Barrier to Health Equity

We now have abundant evidence that structural racism is a ubiquitous social force that shapes health in the United States. However, despite this growing recognition, structural racism and its influence on health outcomes have received insufficient research attention. The complexity of conducting research has been further compounded by decades in which the agenda has been set largely by a limited group of academic scholars, to the exclusion of community voices. The result is a failure to interrogate some of the core methodological assumptions that exclude essential information drawn from actual community contexts.

Research to Action: Structural Racism as a Barrier to Health Equity makes an important contribution by presenting different approaches to defining structural racism and closely examining the pathways through which structural racism creates health inequities-and then going further with concrete ideas for addressing and redressing this problem. It unpacks the assumptions that influence research methodology and mindsets and looks hard at the damage wrought by the criminal justice system, the structure of political systems, the distortions imposed by wealth disparities, the enduring impact of colonialism, the intertwined relationship between climate and health, and more. This type of research is deliberately cross-disciplinary, recognizing the imperative of considering common challenges through the lenses of better integrated and connected scholarship and practice to advance informed solutions. It is also partnered with and inclusive of the ideas and experiences of persons who experience marginalized conditions in their communities.

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