Thanks to Mahzarin Banaji & Anthony Greenwald, authors of the recently published book "Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People", I now have a term to use when I crib about that intangible, all pervasive, frustrating, subtle but highly damaging prejudice one has to face in the corporate life.
Below is my comment* posted against the transcript of a rather surprisingly** unbiased interview of Banaji by Shankar Vedantam on NPR Code-switch
*one among the 214 highly engrossing comments as on today
**or may be not-so-surprising considering the topic is of 'bias' & avoiding that makes definite sense :-) & also because Shankar himself authored a book that establishes the existence of unconscious biases (The Hidden Brain: How our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars and Save Our Lives)
Let me admit upfront that the comment i made about the book in the penultimate paragraph below is hardly unbiased as 1) I haven't (still) read the book & 2) I was prejudiced by the choice of examples Banaji made.
My comment:
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Ouch! that hit a raw nerve…
Considering
the many instances I encountered and still experiencing, it’s apparent to me that
I unfortunately am on the wrong viz., receiving side of this bias - No wonder, I
am not really able to smirk in tacit understanding of this form of subtle prejudice
like Banaji & Greenwald can!
I probably
faced this first as a kid transitioning from vernacular education to an
'English medium' school wherein I joined this phantom club of under-dog vern-pretenders.
Even as I overcame this initial bias over a few precious school years, I have
had an extended rendezvous with this intangible discrimination that followed me
most places & most worryingly, into my career – an aspect to an extent
demonstrated by the number of times I riled against ageism, rankism & even
heightism on twitter in the past few years.
Hands-down,
the title of the most damning kind of subtle prejudice goes to professional discrimination
that manifests itself in multiple forms in multiple contexts right from Existence
of highly exclusive informal academic/ alumni groups; Caste (in Indian context), region triggered favoritism to Inherent bias of domain-Gods prejudiced against
wannabes that are trying to break-in into their sacred bastion – most of which I
am experiencing right now with my own seemingly self-defeating penchant for
periodical disruptive re-invention of self by making/ attempting a lateral
career move with no pedigree, justification other than my own belief.
If it sounds like I’m demonizing these ‘quaint’ prejudices as
if they were a bigger evil than the regular discrimination types like age, color,
disability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation etc., I have a reason
for being so. Unlike these more visible & blatant discrimination wherein
the discriminator most times cannot morally or at least legally justify the
bias & hence the biased can seek refuge in the regulation & the
brotherhood of communities that are similarly affected., the victim, if I may
say that, of a subtle prejudice/ bias/ discrimination is without any recourse
of fighting this anomaly & hence is perpetually screwed.
No one is
above a little-bias in their lives - My own biases & how they impacted the
under favored is something which now I’ll keep mulling on, so as to avoid. I
however like to believe my fleeting prejudices never trampled on any career
aspiration nor on real merit, but aware I am pretty much of any bias I have
& when I do, it’s intentional. Given this, I’d argue most
of these prejudices aren't unintentional but very consciously employed – while I haven’t read the book, the tone, tenor and the case-studies used by the authors
make this book come across as a guide to these subtle perpetrators on “how not
to feel guilty while favoring your own kind” – It’s a great service
nonetheless by authors to highlight this aspect so very bravely.
The biases may be quaint, but the impact is real and it hurts
real bad.
