From evil to illness: Medicalizing racism

Arguments for treating racism as an illness or an addiction are critiqued, and it is suggested that such efforts constitute a step backward in the bat tle against racism and discrimination. Medicalization, rather than being a catalyst for social change, is a mode of social control. The assumptions un derlying the disease model are examined, and a strategy is outlined for dea ling with racism as a structural phenomenon broader and more complex than p ersonal prejudice and individual pathology.