unconscious bias
A type of employment-related claim alleging that with respect to
promotions, raises, and job offers, Caucasian men inevitably slight women
and minorities, because they use preconceived stereotypes in evaluating such
persons, despite their conscious efforts to do otherwise. The leading
proponent of this theory is sociologist William Bielby, who regularly
testifies on behalf of employee plaintiffs in major employment
discrimination cases (including those against Wal-Mart, FedEx, and Johnson &
Johnson). As an example of unconscious bias, Bielby's research found that in
identifying candidates for management positions requiring relocation, hiring
managers systematically excluded women from consideration because they
reflexively assumed that women weren't interested in jobs requiring them to
move long distances. Critics of unconscious bias claims assert that while
stereotypes are admittedly involved in interactions between strangers, when
a Caucasian manager has known an employee for a significant period of time,
he will apply what is referred to as "individuating information," thereby
allowing him to make objective decisions on the basis of the employee's
individual skills and abilities, rather than on gender or racial
stereotypes.
Links for IRMI Online Subscribers Only:
PLI XXI.B; EPLiC, Spring 2007