Blinding audits cannot undo accumulated experiential advantages from past discrimination.
Evidence
The contrast of affirmative action with blinding can be considered in the context of a case reported by Allmendinger and Hackman (1993). American symphony orchestras have a long tradition of predominant male membership, and women instrumentalists have historically not found equal opportunity in obtaining experience that can allow them to compete effectively with men. Being alert to possible discrimination, orchestras now routinely have candidates for vacant positions perform from behind a partition, removing all cues other than the sound of the performance. Unfortunately, if the performance reveals (as it should) any benefits accrued from (differential) past experience, then men will maintain relative success, even in hypothetical cases of equal aptitude and equal ability to benefit from experience. Disadvantages that are inherited from past discrimination are not undone by blinding. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 257
Categorization
- CANDY: The orchestra blind-audition case is a famous, compact story about when procedural fairness fails — good elevator material.
- XREF: This connects to the reader’s interest in implicit-bias group-defense mechanisms: blinding removes experimenter/expert bias but not the effects of differential past opportunity, so implicit measures rooted in prior experience may persist despite procedural reform. — connects to: Blind coding cannot fix bias already introduced during data collection.; Individuals cannot override unconscious bias by willpower; institutions must intervene — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1354; Bias awareness alone does not change behavior and can backfire (+10 more)
- SHARE: For anyone who cites the orchestra blind-audition finding, this is the crucial caveat that blinding equalizes judgment but cannot equalize accumulated skill.
- SEED: Angle for an essay: ‘What Blind Auditions Couldn’t Hear’ — procedural fairness tools and the ceiling on what they can equalize.
Broader Connections
- Blind coding cannot fix bias already introduced during data collection.
#exemplifies(0.88) - Declaring color-blindness cannot undo entrenched racialized inequality
#corroborates(0.87) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1840 - Refusing to acknowledge racial bias does not prevent it from shaping behavior
#corroborates(0.83) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 694 - Litigation victories alone could not change entrenched voting discrimination
#corroborates(0.80) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1384 - Individuals cannot override unconscious bias by willpower; institutions must intervene
#corroborates(0.78) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1354 - Raising awareness of bias risk can either reduce discrimination or sharpen scrutiny of evidence
#complicates(0.77) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 871 - Erasing racial categories from public accounting also erases the discrimination they record
#complicates(0.76) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1772 - Bias operates without intention or awareness
#expands(0.76) - Bias awareness alone does not change behavior and can backfire
#corroborates(0.75) - Institutions penalize those who raise race bias rather than the biased conduct
#corroborates(0.74) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 700 - Deliberate opaqueness in dispute resolution discourages parties from litigating to judgment.
#responds-to(0.73) — Lisa Bernestein, Opting out of the Legal System, 88 - Measuring discrimination is distorted by both underreporting and hypervigilance.
#qualifies(0.72) — Naheed Ahmed, Measurement of Perceived Interpersonal…, 102 - Discrimination can occur without generalized group antipathy or inaccurate stereotypes.
#expands(0.71) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 173