Afrophobia targets individuals, groups and communities of African origin. Afrophobia useeks to dehumanise its target, and is linked to historical injustices experienced by black people, such as colonialism and negative stereotypes assigned to black people.

Active and conscious action against all forms of racism. Anti-racist action is work that reduces ethnic discrimination, mitigates the effects of discriminatory practices, and dispels negative prejudices.

Antisemitism is a certain view on Jewish people that manifests as hatred towards Jewish people. The verbal and physical manifestations of antisemitism are targeted at Jewish people and/or their property as well as the institutions and religious spaces of the Jewish community.

Antiziganism refers to discriminatory and racist attitudes towards Roma, and to conduct based on prejudices and stereotypes concerning Roma people. Antiziganism leads to the exclusion and dehumanisation of Roma, hampering their access to such benefits as employment and housing.

Equality refers to the equal value of all people regardless of origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, age, ethnic or national origin, citizenship, language, religion or personal conviction, opinion, disability, state of health, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics.

Treating a person less favourably than others or affording them a disadvantaged status due to some personal characteristic without an acceptable reason. Discrimination takes various forms:

• Direct discrimination: Treating someone less favourably than someone else for no acceptable reason. For example, a trader denying a dark-skinned person admission to business premises.
• Indirect discrimination: A seemingly equitable rule, rationale or practice that disadvantages someone for no acceptable reason. For example, requiring advanced language competence when hiring, even where this is not necessary for performing the work.
• Harassment: See definition (harassment)
• Refusal of reasonable accommodation: Public authorities, providers of education and training, employers, and suppliers of goods and services must make reasonable accommodation for disabled persons. Accommodation ensures the equitable status of the disabled in individual circumstances. Refusing reasonable accommodation constitutes discrimination.
• An instruction or order to discriminate: It is illegal to instruct or order someone to discriminate. For example, a supervisor who instructs shop workers not to serve prospective customers of foreign origin is guilty of discrimination. This is also discrimination even if the employee has not yet complied with the instruction. Complying with an order or instruction to discriminate is also discrimination.
 

• Harassment is discrimination contrary to the Finnish Non-Discrimination Act. This law defines harassment as conduct that intentionally or effectively violates the dignity of a person. Such conduct creates a humiliating, threatening, hostile or offensive atmosphere associated with a prohibited reason for discrimination.
   
• Section 7 of the Finnish Act on Equality between Women and Men prohibits harassment based on sexual and gender identity or gender expression.
   

A group of people whose members share some common factor, such as cultural heritage, religion, language, origin or appearance.

Ethnic profiling usually refers to measures taken by security authorities that target individuals on the basis of characteristics deriving from their origin, such as skin colour, language, or a mode of dress that indicates a particular religion or culture. 

A hate crime is a criminal offence committed against a person, group, property, institution or representative thereof that is motivated by prejudice or hostility to the victim’s presumed or actual ethnic or national origin, religious conviction or worldview, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or disability.

Hate speech refers to expressions that spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, antisemitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance.

An approach in which a combination of factors is considered to influence the identity and status of an individual in social power relations. An intersectional approach avoids analysing individual factors such as gender, social class, age, ethnic background, functional capacity or sexual orientation in isolation. 

Islamophobia is a specific form of racism that motivates acts of violence, discrimination and racist hate speech targeting Muslims, or individuals, groups or communities who are assumed to be Muslim. The manifestations of islamophobia include negative stereotypes and special traits associated with Muslims as a group, and with the religion of Islam. Islamophobia leads to exclusion and dehumanisation of Muslims

A microaggression is often an unintentional remark or act that reinforces and perpetuates racist or otherwise discriminatory stereotypes. Microaggressions exclude people and make them feel like outsiders. 

Minority stress is a psychological phenomenon that describes a chronic state of stress resulting from minority status, due to perceived, cumulative experiences of discrimination, the anxiety and fear that these experiences cause, feelings of difference, and experiences of otherness. Minority stress can negatively impact physical and mental health and well-being, and change a person’s social behaviour.

Multiple discrimination refers to discrimination on two or more grounds. Belonging to visible minorities in particular exposes individuals to multiple discrimination. We may identify three forms of multiple discrimination:

1.    Ordinary multiple discrimination is a situation where a person experiences discrimination on more than one occasion for different reasons. For example, a disabled person of immigrant origin may suffer discrimination in job seeking due to their disability and be discriminated against in the housing market due to their ethnicity.

2.    Cumulative multiple discrimination is a situation where a person experiences discrimination for multiple reasons on the same occasion. For example, a job applicant may be discriminated against on the basis of their ethnic origin and sexual orientation.

3.    Intersectional multiple discrimination is a situation where different grounds converge and intersect, forming a particular reason for discrimination. For example, a Swedish-speaking disabled person may face discrimination in health services that would not be experienced by a Swedish-speaking non-disabled person or a non-Swedish-speaking disabled person.
 

Norm criticality refers to a critical examination of the norms that prevail in society, meaning active measures to dispel norms. The term norm awareness may also be used for this. Awareness highlights the point that social norms may be recognised without necessarily always adopting a critical attitude towards them.

Social norms refer to perceptions of normality that have become common ways of thinking. Norms include assumptions about individuals and groups. One example of a norm is inferring national identity from someone’s name or skin colour.

POC is an abbreviation of the expression People of Colour. This expression refers to individuals who are perceived as non-white due to various characteristics, such as name, skin colour or religion.

BIPOC is an abbreviation of the terms Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. This expression has been used recently because black and indigenous peoples face forms of discrimination and racism that differ from those experienced by other POC.

Prejudice refers to an impression that has formed before getting to know a person, condition or phenomenon. Prejudices may arise from stereotypes, from ignorance, or in other ways. They can also be implicit and unconscious. Prejudices are often directed at entire groups of people, for example according to minority status or religion.

Racism is a way of thinking in which groups of people are held to be inferior on the basis of such characteristics as ethnic origin, skin colour, citizenship, culture, native language or religion. Racism may be manifest in various walks of life as intentional or unwitting interaction between individuals and groups based on prejudice and fear of the unfamiliar, or as discriminatory practices within the structures of society. Racism perpetuates inequality, harming not only its targets but society as a whole.

In the context of antiracism, representation refers to the visibility of minorities and the presence or absence of their voices in society, for example in policymaking and the media. Representation accordingly refers to the opportunities of a group of people to be seen, and to influence and be heard in society.

Structural racism is discrimination that arises covertly in the functioning of society, such as in laws, services and institutions. Structural racism is often unconscious, and may be manifest in seemingly neutral practices that actually exclude people who are perceived as different from the mainstream population, or as non-white.

Exclusion leads to cultural, economic and social marginalisation. Racism is accordingly not always something that arises consciously or between individuals, but is also present in the structures of society. While structural discrimination may be difficult to point out or recognise in individual cases, it becomes evident in a broader context, and in studies, surveys, and statistical reviews. For example:

1.    Structural discrimination at work may be manifest in remuneration or other employment-related benefits, such as access to further training.

2.    Structural discrimination in education may arise when young people of presumed immigrant origin are directed towards certain fields at school, regardless of their own interests.

3.    A name that sounds "foreign" may also affect access to opportunities in the housing market.

Whiteness as a norm does not refer to skin colour as such; it refers to the invisible social hierarchies and power structures, in which being Western and European are seen as norms that define social structures. The normativity only becomes evident when it is made visible or when people deviate from it.

Racialisation is a process whereby society attaches assumptions, stereotypes and prejudices to people concerning their abilities, customs and morals on account of such characteristics as skin colour or presumed ethnic origin. Racialisation leads to racist and discriminatory practices, with people either consciously or unwittingly treated in an inequitable way based on stereotypical characterisations.