{"id":41411,"date":"2025-03-31T16:32:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T23:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=41411"},"modified":"2025-03-31T16:32:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T23:32:37","slug":"3-types-of-bias-and-3-questions-of-agarwal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/3-types-of-bias-and-3-questions-of-agarwal\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Types of Bias and 3 Questions of Agarwal"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I read Pragya Agarwal, Sway, Unravelling Unconscious Bias,<\/em> many of the books we read since starting this program came to mind; this made it hard to decide which direction to go in writing this post.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 For this post, I am going to define some key terms related to bias, then I am going to examine three questions that I had while reading the book.<\/p>\n

Key Terms\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sway starts the book by defining unconscious bias<\/strong>, \u201cthose biases that exist without our conscious knowledge, the ones that manifest themselves in our action and reaction often without us realizing it, rearing their heads when we least expect it and sometimes taking us by surprise.[2]<\/a> I am grateful for the definition of unconscious bias, but I feel that the term bias needs to be further defined.<\/p>\n

In the classes I teach, when I use the term bias, I usually break it down into three categories.<\/p>\n

Stereotypes<\/strong> \u2013 (Thoughts) when thinking of a group stereotypes are the ideas that help define a particular group.[3]<\/a> \u201c\u2019women\u2019s talk is more polite than men\u2019s; women use more tag questions (e.g. \u2018isn\u2019t it?\u2019) use weaker directives, avoid swearing, and use more empty adjectives (e.g. \u2018cute;) than men.\u2019\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Prejudices<\/strong> \u2013 (Feelings) when thinking about or in the presence of a particular group member(s) prejudices are the emotions that a person feels toward the group.[5]<\/a> For example, feeling indifferent or even callous towards out of group members who I see might be hurt or in trouble[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Discrimination<\/strong> \u2013 (Behaviors) these are the behaviors exhibited towards member of a particular group.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 Common reported examples include minorities being accused of shoplifting, \u201cdenied entrance to a restaurant, bar or club.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

The examples that I used above were mentioned in Agarwal\u2019s book and happened to be negative. In my Cultural and Human Diversity class after I point out the universality of bias, I stress that biases can be positive (The Ohio State Buckeyes are the best football team in the nation) or negative (I don\u2019t like anyone from the state of Michigan).<\/p>\n

I appreciated that Agarwal pointed out that in some cases positive bias can be more damaging to individuals.\u00a0 She states, \u201cpositive stereotypes are an insidious means of promoting antiquated beliefs about different social groups. . . Such notions can reinforce the idea that differences between black people and white people are biological and perpetuate the dangerous notion of race being a biological determinant category rather than a spectrum.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

Does Agarwal fall into the Identity Trap?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are some questions that came to mind as I was reading the book.\u00a0 First, I kept wondering what would Yascha Mounk say about her, has she fallen into the Identity Trap?\u00a0 In Chapter Three of The Identity Trap<\/em> Mounk discusses Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. In a section titled \u201cTHE (SUPPOSED) PERMANENCE OF RACISM\u201d Mounk writes \u201c(Derrick) Bell also distrusted the idea that the racial attitudes of most Americans had improved over the course of the civil rights era. \u201cRacism,\u201d he contended, is not \u201ca holdover from slavery that the nation both wants to cure and is capable of curing.\u201d Rather, it is \u201can integral, permanent, and indestructible component of this society.\u201d[10]<\/a> Agarwal seems to agree with Bell that there is a permanent indestructible aspect to unconscious biases. She writes \u201cThere has been an upsurge in diversity training with the aim of freeing ourselves from unconscious biases, but we cannot erase our biases completely. Awareness and action are possible, obliteration is not.[11]<\/a> I reviewed the rest of Mounk\u2019s ideological themes for what he terms the Identity Synthesis and I do not believe that she meets any of the other six themes.<\/p>\n

Is Agarwal a Postmodernist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next, I wondered if she would be considered a postmodernist, having just read Stephen Hicks\u2019 Explaining Postmodernism.[12]<\/strong><\/a><\/em> \u00a0Mounk refers to Bell as engaging in postmodern thinking in regarding race and as mentioned above Agarwal shares some of Bell\u2019s ideas.\u00a0 Is it guilt by association?\u00a0 I see Agarwal expressing modernistic thinking throughout her book. Agarwal said \u201cBut I had this nagging feeling that a part of me was being stripped away\u201d when someone commented on her behavior by saying \u201cYou\u2019re not very Indian.\u201d[13]<\/a> Here she sees herself as an individual not defined by only one part of her identity (Indian).\u00a0 Additionally, throughout the book Agarwal, like a modernist thinker, relies heavily on science and research studies to emphasize her points. At this point, I would not classify her as a postmodernist.<\/p>\n

Is Agarwal biased?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A final question I have is Agarwal exhibiting unconscious bias herself in writing this book?\u00a0 Agarwal begins the book by telling a story of how a male coworker made a biased remark about her being a girl relating it to her mathematical abilities.\u00a0 At the end of her chapter \u201cSugar and Spice\u201d focusing on gender bias, one of the longest chapters in the book, she says \u201cAnd to all the skeptics, I would just say \u201cAm I not believed because I am a woman?\u201d[14]<\/a> \u00a0Elsewhere she discusses her experience of racial profiling, having the cops called on her and her daughter while shopping.\u00a0 Agarwal believes herself to be a victim of bias. Bobby Duffy speaking on confirmation bias says \u201cwe are drawn to and focus on information that reinforces our pre-existing beliefs.\u201d[15]<\/a>\u00a0 In conducting research for this book, has Agarwal unconsciously only read and\/or referenced studies that reinforce the ideas of gender, racial, and other biases that she has experienced?\u00a0 To test this idea, I searched for studies that suggest negative racial bias and\/or gender bias does not exist.\u00a0 While the results of my search only turned up one study, Agarwal does not appear to spend time highlighting cases of reverse discrimination<\/em>.[16]<\/a>\u00a0 For example, a Swedish research study showed that men were more likely to not get an interview for jobs in fields such as nursing, childcare, early childhood education and house cleaning.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall Agarwal\u2019s book was an informative read.\u00a0 This is a topic that I care deeply about. I appreciated her detailing the science behind unconscious bias and the research studies that confirm its existence.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe her to have an unrealistic view of the prevalence of bias and the difficulty of countering unconscious biases.\u00a0 She provided me some new material for me to present to my students as seek to address these biases.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Pragya Agarwal, Sway, Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/em>, (London, UK: Bloomsbury, 2021).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Agarwal, 16.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> University of Minnesota, \u201cSocial Psychology Chapter 12: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination.\u00a0 Accessed on March 31, 2025. https:\/\/open.lib.umn.edu\/socialpsychology\/part\/chapter-12-stereotypes-prejudice-and-discrimination\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Agarwal, 211.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Agarwal, 75-76.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Agarwal, 253.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Agarwal, 130-131.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Yascha Mounk, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time<\/em>, (New York, Penguin, 2023).,62<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Agarwal, 22.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Stephen R. C. Hicks, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault,<\/em> (Reland Bay, QLD: Connon Court Publishing, 2019).<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Agarwal, 14.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Agarwal, 250-251.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Bobby Duffy, Why We\u2019re Wrong About Nearly Everything<\/em>, (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2019), 60.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Flaminio Squazzoni, Giangiacomo Bravo, Mike Farjam, Ana Marusic, Bahar Mehmani, Michael Willis, Aliaksandr Birukou, Pierpaolo Dondio, Francisco Grimaldo, \u201cPeer review and gender bias: A study on145 scholarly journals,\u201d Science Advances<\/em>, 7 no 2, 2021, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/sciadv.abd0299.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Ali Ahmed, Mark Granberg, and Shantanu Khanna, \u201cGender Discrimination in Hiring: An Experimental Reexamination of the Swedish Case, PlosOne<\/em>, 2021, doi.org\/10.137\/journal.pone.0245513.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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