Some sociologists have defined racism as a system of group privilege. In Portraits of White Racism David Wellman (1993) has defined racism as "culturally sanctioned beliefs, which, regardless of intentions involved, defend the advantages whites have because of the subordinated position of racial minorities,����¯�¿�½���¯���¿���½����¯�¿�½������¢����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½ (Wellman 1993: x). Sociologists Noel Cazenave and Darlene Alvarez Maddern define racism as ����¯�¿�½���¯���¿���½����¯�¿�½������¢����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½...a highly organized system of 'race'-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is held together by a sophisticated ideology of color/'race' supremacy. Racist systems include, but cannot be reduced to, racial bigotry,����¯�¿�½���¯���¿���½����¯�¿�½������¢����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½ (Cazenave and Maddern 1999: 42). Sociologist and former American Sociological Association president Joe Feagin argues that the United States can be characterized as a "total racist society" because racism is used to organize every social institution (Feagin 2000, p. 16).
More recently, Feagin has articulated a comprehensive theory of racial oppression in the U.S. in his book Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression (Routledge, 2006). Feagin examines how major institutions have been built upon racial oppression which was not an accident of history, but was created intentionally by white Americans. In Feagin's view, white Americans labored hard to create a system of racial oppression in the 17th century and have worked diligently to maintain the system ever since. While Feagin acknowledges that changes have occurred in this racist system over the centuries, he contends that key and fundamental elements have been reproduced over nearly four centuries, and that U.S. institutions today reflect the racialized hierarchy created in the 17th century. Today, as in the past, racial oppression is not just a surface-level feature of this society, but rather pervades, permeates, and interconnects all major social groups, networks, and institutions across the society. Feagin's definition stands in sharp contrast to psychological definitions that assume racism is an "attitude" or an irrational form of bigotry that exists apart from the organization of social structure.
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