Racial Discrimination As A Form Of Bias

The legal definition for Bias is a particular influential power which sways the judgment; the inclination or propensity of the mind towards a particular object. Researchers studied the stereotyping has simply asked people to record their feelings about minority groups and had used their answers as an index of their attitudes. It is now the understanding that these conscious replies are only part of the story. How a person seems to be on the surface has little or no relation to how prejudiced he or she is on an unconscious level.

Despite the laws that were created to prohibit employers bias based on race and other characteristics, racial discrimination remains a problem for the workplace. Racial discrimination and harassment remain pervasive throughout the workplace, with 40% to 76% of ethnic minority employees experiencing at least one unwanted race-based behavior within a 12- to 24-month period. Title VII specifically prohibits discriminatory employment practices and employers may not discriminate in the recruitment, hiring, promotion and retention of employees. Employers are required to use the similar job requirements for all employees, and to ensure that these requirements do not exclude individuals in a particular ethnic group. Although, research shows that discriminatory practices persist in these domains and manifest in a variety of ways. In 2004, two researchers found that in the initial review of resume process, if applicants had names that suggested they were black, were already at a disadvantage just for their names. Resumes were sent out with matching qualifications in response to over a thousand employment advertisements. They only changed the name of the applicant using a name that may be considered to be perceived as white. Names that are perceived as black, such as such as Jamal James versus names that were perceived to be white were 50% more likely to receive a callback than applicants with Black sounding names. When the researchers utilized fake names the resumes, with higher qualified white applicants were 30% more likely to receive a callback than lower quality White applicants, whereas Black applicants with higher quality resumes only received an 8% boost over lower quality Black applicants.

The study demonstrates that racial discrimination more than likely may occur at the hiring stage, and potentially the recruitment stage, before individuals have an opportunity to demonstrate their potential. An analysis that was completed in 2005 which showed, white supervisors gave white employees a higher performance rating than black workers. Interestingly, they also found that Black supervisors demonstrated smaller, but similar biases in favor of White workers. Overall, the results of this body of research suggest that there is racial bias and in the supervisor ratings of black employees, although the source of this bias is unclear. Within three years, black workers with similar credentials were dismissed from their jobs 33% more frequently than White workers.

Race is not the only category that fits under being biased. This word can be attached to male and female, religion and sexual orientation. As shown in this study of athletic swimmers gender appears to moderate the frequency and severity of bias and harassment. Another study of college students found that this pattern held for Black men and women in college, but among Asian and Multiracial students, men reported higher rates than women. Among working adults, studies of racial discrimination and harassment usually find higher rates among men as compared to women. Men are more likely to be targeted for violent racial harassment such as being called racial words and being assaulted due to the color of their skin. Finally, organizational factors, such as the type of workplace and racial composition, appear to influence the numbers dealing with harassment. Many argue, although it is rarely studied, organizational involvement have a greater effect than individual involvement in determining how often and severance of the discrimination.