The experience of racism: black staff in Social Services

The paper examines how racism is experienced by Black and minority ethnic staff in social services. Departing from previous approaches using pre-determined definitions, the research is based on self-defined incidents of racism. It provides an insight into personal and structural features influencing perceptions and coping strategies, illuminates different forms of racism and examines the relationship between institutional and personal racism. It is argued that anti-racist policies in social services have so far failed to address the important role of institutional racism, thus leaving power structures intact and perpetuating racism at the personal and organisational level.