Race Unconscious Bias and Social Work

Q1. What does diversity mean to you? After watching the videos and reading the article, has your definition changed. In what ways?

Before watching the videos and reading the articles, I would have thought of diversity primarily in terms of inclusion, or including individuals regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability status. My definition would reflect that of Boccagni (2015) and his discussion of the most common definition of diversity, namely that it reflects heterogeneity. However, as noted in Wheeler (2015), unconscious inclusion does not address the issue of unconscious bias. Just because someone is not actively prejudiced against members of other groups does not mean they are truly fostering a diverse, inclusive environment within the workplace and society as a whole.

Assuming that a man has more leadership skills because he is tall, the ethnicity of a woman’s name impacts her confidence, or the fact someone is in a wheelchair will impede her ability to do a job is not something many people would consciously articulate. But because of a lifetime of media images and socially reinforced stereotypes, unconscious biases have become like typing or driving a car—something we do by rote, without really questioning how and why we learned to see the world in such a manner.

Diversity now means to me an institution or an individual taking active steps to thwart such biases, and an honest reckoning with history. It also means a willingness to be uncomfortable and to break out of my comfort zone. Wheeler (2015) also notes, for example, that he is more comfortable with highly extroverted people like himself. While this may seem like an obvious, innocent bias, it could easily result in him excluding differently abled persons (such as individuals with mild autism), or even individuals of different races or persons like Abdel-Magied (2011), who do not feel comfortable speaking up in an environment where they anticipate hostility because they have been treated differently because they are not like others in the room, visually.

Q2. Do you agree with the speaker’s and author’s perspectives on diversity? Why?

I do. I was moved by the anecdote chronicled by Wheeler (2015) about a relative of his who, even among his own family, often finds himself relegated to social gatherings to the side, ignored by others. People are very uncomfortable about revealing their own unconscious biases, or simply not knowing the accepted social script they feel they must follow. So, they avoid people who seem different. This is even true within families, so it can only be imagined the extent to which this effect is enhanced outside of the family, in the workplace, and among strangers. Diversity and acceptance of difference, and humility about what one does not know and a willingness to know more, does not come naturally to most people.

Abdel-Magied (2011) cites many experiments to screen for unconscious bias, such as the fact that individuals applying for a science-related job were more apt to get called back for an interview with the same resume if they had a male-sounding name, and the fact that women were more apt to be selected for a symphony if they placed behind a screen. This suggests that diversity requires more than simply individuals being more self-conscious and critical, given that bias may run so deep those in positions of power may be unconscious of them.

The fact that bias so often works against marginalized persons, while individuals in the majority have power reinforces the message of the articles that when there is inequality of status, it is very difficult to overcome bias (Wheeler, 2015). On the other hand, when people are able to engage with one another without social reinforcements of bias, such as when they discuss a favorite novel together, or, perhaps first engage in an online connection where they are not apt to prejudice someone on appearance, bias perceptions can be lessened (Wheeler, 2015). Creating project teams that are diverse and where everyone is on equal footing and presumed competent can likewise reduce bias (Wheeler, 2015). These decisions require institutional as well as individual outreach.

Q3. What are ways unconscious biases could influence your interaction with clients and colleagues?

Although I try to be highly self-critical of my own biases, I know that I may presume that my cultural assumptions are the norm rather than particular to my group. Wheeler (2015) for example, notes his preference for extroverts. Likewise, I might assume someone who does not make eye contact is shy, versus realizing that a lack of eye contact is respectful in the individual’s culture. Certain biases might seem to have a logical basis, such as assuming someone with strong academic credentials is intelligent, but this is not a reason to expect less of someone, merely because they went to a lesser institution, given that the person from the better school may have gotten in because of family connections, and the person who went to a state school received a merit-based scholarship.

It is also possible to be influenced by a client’s file, if their life seems to encompass many bad decisions. But simply because someone has a history of addiction, single motherhood, or so-called red flags in their personal history does not mean that they should not have hope for the future. Many people of all socio-economic, racial, and ethnic groups struggle with these issues, but more often those who are poor and from historically discriminated-against groups are penalized greater in the estimation of society, including in the eyes of people who are supposed to help them.

It is important to work hard to be actively anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive as a social worker, not merely to attempt not to be biased against an individual for the most obvious reasons. Instead, one must be “reflexive and self-critical” when “tracing the interactions between practitioners’ and clients’ mutual identities, categories, power positions and prerogatives” (Boccagni, 2015, p. 613).

Q4. Share some effective ways to manage unconscious biases.

Being more self-aware is a first step to managing unconscious biases, since biases need to be admitted so they can be questioned and challenged. One of the most difficult aspects of fighting prejudice is that people often do not believe that they are prejudiced, if they are not engaging in active discrimination. But thinking about how a steady stream of images on the news or on film can impact biases against certain groups is important; it is also important to remember that even if someone is a member of a particular group themselves, they can still be biased. Women may perpetuate unconscious sexism against other women, for example.