Patterns of Prejudice

This special issue emerges from an unprecedented research initiative funded by the German federal government. The project, entitled ‘Institutions and Racism’ (InRa), was funded and carried out between 2021 and 2024 as part of the National Action Plan against Right-Wing Extremism and Racism. InRa involved twenty-three interdisciplinary sub-projects at multiple research institutions across Germany, including universities and non-university institutes. Each sub-project focused on different institutional domains—ranging from migration and integration authorities to police departments, employment agencies and the judiciary. Together, they form the most comprehensive empirical investigation of institutional racism in German public institutions to date. Developed by researchers from across the country, it involved marginalized communities and civil society actors during the process, taking into account their specific needs, feedback and criticism. The projects investigated racism in public institutions across various sectors, including immigration offices, job centres, police departments, public health agencies and judicial systems. This reflects a paradigmatic shift in how institutional racism is addressed: no longer merely a moral accusation levelled against individuals, but increasingly understood as a structural and systemic feature of state practice.