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This same "subconscious bias" would happen in any mostly homogeneous fields. When a field is mostly homogeneous, standing out draws attention to yourself. I don
by umvi 8y ago
This same "subconscious bias" would happen in any mostly homogeneous fields. When a field is mostly homogeneous, standing out draws attention to yourself. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
I could envision a similar scenario happening to the well-dressed white NBA player who forgot his badge and the staff of the practice gym are questioning if he really works there vs. tall black dude with hoodie and sweatband who gets let in right away because he doesn't look out of the ordinary.
Or males in the nursing. Or females in construction. The list goes on.
- FiveSquared 8y agoWell the NBA thing actually happened with Ron Bakcer. But it's no the fact that he's black, it's the fact that he's a montrity
- wpietri 8y agoNo, it probably wouldn't. One, he didn't get "attention". He got suspicion and aggressive questioning. Two, in the US there is easily demonstrable bias against black people. If you are interested, I recommend going to Harvard's Project Implicit, taking some of their tests, and reading the research results. And the bias extends well beyond the visual; it's enough to have a black name, as is shown by the classic paper: "Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination" https://www.nber.org/papers/w9873 https://www.nber.org/papers/w9873