The "Science" Behind Implicit Bias
City Journal Audio
Manhattan Institute
4.7 • 656 Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Heather Mac Donald joins City Journal associate editor Seth Barron to discuss the dubious scientific and statistical bases of the trendy academic theory known as "implicit bias." The implicit association test (IAT), first introduced in 1998, uses a computerized response-time test to measure an individual's bias, particularly regarding race.
Despite scientific challenges to the test's validity, the implicit-bias idea has taken firm root in popular culture and in the media. Police forces and corporate HR departments are spending millions every year reeducating employees on how to recognize their presumptive hidden prejudices.
Heather discusses the problems with implicit bias, the impact that the concept is having on academia and in the corporate world, and the real reasons for racial disparities in educational achievement and income levels.
Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and author of the New York Timesbestseller The War on Cops. Her article in the Autumn 2017 issue of City Journal is entitled, "Are We All Unconscious Racists?"
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Over the last two decades, the idea of implicit bias has made its way from the academic world |
| 0:05.7 | into the mainstream of public discourse. Implicit bias purports to answer the question, |
| 0:11.5 | why do racial disparities persist when explicit racism has greatly diminished over the last |
| 0:17.7 | half century? The answer, according to proponents, lies deep within the human |
| 0:22.7 | brain. The academic creators of the implicit association test, first introduced in 1998, claimed |
| 0:31.3 | that they could scientifically measure the level of an individual's unconscious bias, especially |
| 0:37.2 | against blacks. |
| 0:39.0 | From university hiring committees to human resources departments, the idea took off. |
| 0:44.6 | An entire consulting industry has spawned, advising organizations on how to combat this unconscious prejudice. |
| 0:52.3 | Every year, government agencies and private firms pay millions of dollars |
| 0:56.6 | to send workers to implicit bias training. In recent years, however, social scientists have begun to |
| 1:03.6 | dispute the scientific reliability and validity of the test, and the original authors themselves |
| 1:09.9 | have even walked back some of their earlier claims. |
| 1:13.5 | With the statistical basis behind the implicit bias theory beginning to crumble, |
| 1:19.4 | can we expect its influence on popular culture to disappear? Probably not without a battle. |
| 1:25.3 | In the latest issue of City Journal, long-time contributing |
| 1:28.2 | editor Heather McDonald takes a deep dive into the literature surrounding the idea of implicit |
| 1:34.7 | bias in an essay entitled, Are We All Unconscious Racists? Coming up on the podcast, Associate |
| 1:41.8 | Editor of City Journal, Seth Barron, talks with Heather about her |
| 1:45.6 | article and more. Their conversation begins after this. |
| 1:57.8 | Hello, I'm City Journal editor Brian Anderson. |
| 2:01.1 | Thanks for joining us for the 10 Blocks podcast featuring urban policy and cultural commentary |
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