A recent development in the study of inequality shifted the focus from individual instances of racism or sexism to structural and system-wide deficiencies that maintain the traditional power distribution in the society. As Peggy McIntosh said in her article: “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group” (1). This change in the paradigm has important practical implications for eradicating racial inequality as it not only challenges the existing cultural or linguistic rules and customs but also calls for a revision of political and social institutions. The purpose of the present paper is to review and evaluate the arguments presented by the authors writing about the concepts of racial inequality and oppression. In spite of the shortcomings of some of the arguments put forward by these authors, their analyses, nevertheless, provide comprehensive evidence that systemic oppression is the main cause of racial inequality in the United States. Consequently, the politics of difference model provides a solution on how racial inequality can be reduced and even eradicated. While some authors focus specifically on the problem of racism, others examine the concept of oppression, in general, identifying certain underprivileged groups such as racial, sexual, or gender minorities. Iris Young, in particular, engages in theory-building in an attempt to identify the different forms that oppression can take. She contrasts the traditional meaning of oppression as “the exercise of tyranny by a ruling group” to the new liberal definition of the concept at a structural level (Young 40). The new view describes oppression as “systemic constraints” imposed on groups of people not as a result of some tyrannical actions, but as an unintended consequence of a “well-intentioned” society (Young 41). This definition shifts the focus from the causes of the oppression to its consequences – namely, the resulting injustice and limitation of freedom. Young then proceeds to propose a comprehensive classification of particular manifestations of oppression: violence, exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, and cultural imperialism (42). Violence is, perhaps, the most obvious and evident source of oppression. While traditionally, violence is considered an immoral, yet not necessarily unjust practice, the key difference of systemic violence is that it targets individuals based on their belonging to a particular group (Young 62). In the case of racism, violence manifests itself, for instance, through police brutality that gained particular salience in the light of recent events in Ferguson and other cities. Exploitation, on the other hand, is a subtle category which Young defines as a “process of the transfer of the results of the labor of one social group to benefit another” (49). While exploitation is less present in the contemporary society, Young cites Black and Latino workers’ prevalence in and association with menial labor as an example (52). Marginalization refers to the expulsion of categories of people from “useful participation in social life” (Young 53). Indeed, this is one of the most common forms