John Barnes believes until discrimination is eradicated from society as a whole abuse will remain in soccer.
Romelu Lukaku became the latest participant after being subjected to monkey chants on Sunday to get abuse.
Paul Pogba marcus Rashford and Tammy Abraham have all been targeted by abuse prompting calls for social networking websites to perform to tackle the problem.
Lukaku believes football is”going backward” in relation to stamping out racism and Barnes says the issue will continue unless society does more to educate people about the causes of discrimination.
“I wouldn’t say we are going backwards but we’re just where we were all,” said Barnes.
“There is not a footballing remedy for this, there’s simply an educational and social remedy for this problem.
“What can soccer do? It’s an educational thing, a thing that is social. Take a look at the environment people have been brought in, and it has nothing to do with football.
“Football is a car for them to reveal [racism] however it’s no problem in football, it is an issue in society.
“Until we begin to question it, it is going to exist in all walks of society”
Barnes claims the current episodes of racist abuse in football are a”disgrace” but considers the game is doing much more to eradicate the issue than many other areas of society.
He said:”Michael Johnson and Chris Powell have just been given jobs at the English FA and, even although I’m not a major fan of positive discrimination, at least soccer seems to be doing anything to address the issue.
“We absolve ourselves of responsibility by simply looking at soccer to discuss the huge problems.
“Yes we have the problem of racism in soccer but they appear to be doing more than other businesses, in trying to promote equality.
“If you would like to keep it to a soccer level, yes it is a disgrace and something needs to be done, but nobody has produced a strategy to attempt to do anything about it.”

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