Implicit Bias as a Cognitive Manifestation of Systemic Racism

Explicitly prejudiced attitudes against Black Americans have declined gradually since the 1960s. Yet racial disparities and racial discrimination remain significant problems in the United States. How could discrimination and disparate outcomes remain constant even while racial prejudice decreased? Two prominent explanations have emerged to explain these puzzling trends. Sociologists have proposed that disparities and discrimination are perpetuated by systemic racism, or the policies, practices, and societal structures that disadvantage some racial groups compared with others. Simultaneously, psychologists have proposed that implicit biases may sustain discrimination even in the absence of explicit prejudice. In this essay, we explore newly discovered connections between systemic racism and implicit bias, how they challenge traditional views to reorient our understanding of implicit bias, and how they shed new light on strategies to reduce bias. … full description

Bibliographic Details

Published in

Daedalus (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 153; no. 1; pp. 106 - 122

Main Authors

Galvan, Manuel J., Payne, B. Keith

Document Type

Journal Article

Language

English

Published

Boston MIT Press 2024

Subjects

African Americans

Attitudes

Bias

Cognitive ability

Cognitive bias

Discrimination

Minority groups

Prejudice

Race factors

Racial bias

Racial differences

Racial discrimination

Racial groups

Racial inequality

Racism

Systemic racism

ISSN

0011-5266
1548-6192

DOI

10.1162/daed_a_02051