Sincere belief in equal treatment coexists with and masks biased allocation.
Evidence
Norms of equal treatment often function to reduce and minimize tendencies toward bias and otherwise provide powerful myths about the way services are allocated. Street-level bureaucrats often believe firmly that they treat all clients alike. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 820
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes Bourdieu/Mills on official egalitarian fictions and the learned example ‘caste apologists invoked eugenics… caste endogamy as world-leading racial improvement’ — self-justifying ideology inside a stratified institution. — connects to: Believing in equal opportunity lets advantaged groups justify status inequality and avoid collective guilt. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 202; Officially equal treatment masks workers acting on private client preferences. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 793; Sincere egalitarian conviction coexists with unconscious bias that surfaces only in ambiguous decisions — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 862 (+4 more)
- DEEPTHINKING: The saving grace of the chapter and also its darkest point: equality norms both restrain bias and supply the myth that conceals it.
Broader Connections
- Sincere egalitarian conviction coexists with unconscious bias that surfaces only in ambiguous decisions
#expands(0.95) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 862 - Positive group attitudes can coexist with pervasive discrimination against that group
#corroborates(0.90) - Symbolic racism may coexist comfortably with stated belief in equal opportunity
#corroborates(0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2186 - Believing in equal opportunity coexists without felt conflict with blaming Blacks’ lack of effort
#exemplifies(0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2186