Systems of Thought and Behaviors Within Bias and Inequity

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Overview

When it comes to discussions on bias and inequity, you may wonder why people adamantly object to the idea that in most societies across the world, people are treated differently based on a multitude of reasons, and that this differential treatment has major impacts on the quality of life for individuals, groups, and entire cultures of people. The implications that bias and inequality have on people’s lives can be insurmountable. People are affected financially: sometimes they are stuck in cycles of generational poverty; the promise of safety and access to health is compromised, access to educational and professional opportunities are withheld, and various types of social exclusion are experienced.

A picture shows the top view of a spiral staircase.

Source: Photo by Tine Ivanič on Unsplash.

In a 2019 article titled “Psychological and Brain Sciences” at Washington University, Calvin Lai, an assistant professor of psychology explains that bias isn’t always negative:

“Bias is just a tendency to respond one way compared to another when making some kind of choice in life.”

Unfortunately, when these choices are made, consistently by people in power and includes negative feelings, discriminative actions, or actual actions toward people based on the social group they belong to, these choices can reduce the quality of life for individuals and exclude members of said groups from lending their voice to the creation of laws and policies that ultimately affect their lives.

Bias, whether intended or not, can perpetuate a society of people who are treated unequally and therefore experience unequal outcomes in life, simply based on their belonging to a specific group of people. Inequity, as it relates to social issues, can be defined as a lack of justice or fairness. If two people are employed to handle the same responsibilities for a job and one person is compensated more money based on their gender, or racial group, this is an example of inequity. An example of bias may occur in a hospital setting. For instance, two women complain about pain following giving birth; however, the doctor ignores one woman’s complaints because of her race and attends to the other woman’s complaints.

The issue with bias is that it is not always as blatant or observable as people may think. When people hear the word “bias,” they often consider the aggressive verbal or physical acts of one individual towards another. However, all people carry biases, as this is the way we make sense of the world around us, and its use can sometimes save our lives in life-threatening situations. Therefore, it is important for all of us to consider the ways in which our personal biases contribute to and perpetuate a system of inequity. It is not until we are all intentional about change, that change will occur.

This Skill has been designed to provide you with brief information to increase your understanding of how bias relates to you and the world. It also outlines relevant vocabulary that may be useful in helping to shape your ideas around bias, and your ability to explain it to others in your social circles, classrooms, and workplaces. After acquiring language that will improve your communication with others, we discuss various settings and groups that are impacted by biases and the way our collective biases accumulate and create systems of bias. Lastly, we discuss the ways in which we can begin to purposefully change the settings where we work, learn, and live to reflect policies and practices that offer equal opportunities and just outcomes for all.

Suggested Readings
Eberhardt, J. L. (2019). Biased: Uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do. New York Times.
Johnson, S. (2016). Why aren’t there more Asian Americans in leadership positions. Harvard Business Review.
Noon, M. (2018). Pointless diversity training: Unconscious bias, new racism and agency. Work, Employment and Society, 32(1):198209.
Suarez, K.(2018). The role of senior leaders in building a race equity culture. https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/organizational-effectiveness/senior-leaders-role-in-building-race-equity