Unconscious bias alone cannot explain racism without analyzing societal structures and values

Evidence

It is a question that cannot be answered without pondering the nature of racism in society. Social psychologists tend to attribute the complexity of contemporary racism to subtle, unconscious bias. Although this is a very infl uential and rich avenue of inquiry, it offers only a partial answer. Subtle bias can get in the way of interpersonal and intergroup sympathy, solidarity and mutual trust, but arguably, it is only one aspect that can explain the complexity of racism in society. One cannot understand the nature and complexity of racism in society without exploring the nature of (specifi c) societies, social and institutional arrangements, societal values, collective assumptions and presuppositions, which perpetuate intolerance as well as tolerance. — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 716

Social psychologists tend to attribute the complexity of contemporary racism to subtle, unconscious bias. Although this is a very infl uential and rich avenue of inquiry, it offers only a partial answer. Subtle bias can get in the way of interpersonal and intergroup sympathy, solidarity and mutual trust, but arguably, it is only one aspect that can explain the complexity of racism in society. One cannot understand the nature and complexity of racism in society without exploring the nature of (specifi c) societies, social and institutional arrangements, societal values, collective assumptions and presuppositions, which perpetuate intolerance as well as tolerance. — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 716

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges the dominant implicit-bias paradigm in social psychology — connects to critiques of the IAT literature (e.g. the replication crisis surrounding implicit association testing). — connects to: Environmental injustice persists without racist intent because bias is structurally embedded — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 221
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice: Society,…, 716

Related

• Subtle bias alone cannot explain racism’s societal persistence (similarity 0.89)
• No single theory can fully explain racism and ethnocentrism. (similarity 0.81)
• Racism persists today as egalitarian values mixed with racial animus (similarity 0.79)
• Most racial disparity stems from well-meaning people’s unconscious bias, not explicit hatred (similarity 0.79)
• Racism persists but has shifted from blatant to unconscious subtle forms (similarity 0.79)
• Historically stigmatized group membership makes race-bias a chronically accessible frame for interpreting experiences (similarity 0.78)