In the context of today’s rapidly changing world, the notion of discrimination has become unacceptable in any of its manifestations. Speaking of the legislative level of the issue, authorities from all over the world have made great progress in terms of bias prevention in the workplace, medical care, and basic social needs. However, the one full-scale problem tackling our society today is a demonstration of implicit bias in the workplace. The very notion of implicit bias presupposes that people experience stereotypical attitudes towards individuals of specific race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual affiliation without conscious perception of such discrimination. As a result, people who do their best at combating prejudice, still demonstrate discrimination against their colleagues. In today’s overall perception of equality in the workplace, the notions of gender and race are the ones that matter and stand out the most. However, I would like to dedicate more attention to the issue of racial bias, as I feel that the problem still has a lot to consider to eradicate them from the common consciousness.
The modern version of the workplace depiction has overcome many challenges to be in the place it is today, giving people the opportunity to find a job regardless of gender, race, and ethnicity. However, once people get certain positions within a workplace, it becomes clear that there is a kind of major discrepancy between the positions taken by white people and employees of a different race (Thomas, 2019). When speaking of efforts to achieve racially just workplace environments, workers struggle with implicit racism in several manifestations. First of all, African-American employees have to deal with aversive racism, which makes people change their behavioral patterns around them (Roberts & Mayo, n.d.). Another implicit racism expression is related to people’s expectations towards the occupations common for African-Americans, assuming that they do not frequently hold a high position within the enterprise. Finally, implicit racism in the workplace is affected by people who ignore the fact black people still face discrimination by reassuring that the modern labor market is open for any race or ethnicity on equal terms.
In fact, over the last years, considerably more African-Americans hold leading positions, creating an impression of racism eradication in the unit. However, besides all the workload, they are to additionally face mistreatment or tension coming from the employees, limiting one’s ability to become an efficient leader (Caver & Livers, 2002). Such an attitude is also known under the term “miasma,” causing high-stress rates among African-American employees across the state.
Bearing this information in mind, I tried to define which implicit bias in the workplace still interfere with my perception of racial equality. As a result, I understood that my relationship with African-American employees frequently includes minor manifestations of aversive racism, as I subconsciously pay too much attention to the way I act around them. As a result, while trying too hard to avoid potentially awkward situations, African-Americans might think of such an attitude as an implicit offense. Moreover, on the level of my subconscious, I often misinterpret the very notion of equality. Hence, instead of showing racial diversity recognition and respect, I sometimes try to diminish the cultural difference between races to perceive it as “equal.” I do understand the cultural affiliation and historical difference between us, which will never allow us to explicitly understand everything people have to go through daily. However, this understanding sometimes looks like it has been significantly undermined under the social pressure of constant attempts to equal the racial experiences.
References
Caver, K. A., & Livers, A. B. (2002). Dear white boss. Web.
Roberts, L. M., & Mayo, A. J. (n.d.). Towards a racially just workplace. Web.
Thomas, C. (2019). Is empathy the link? An exploration of implicit racial bias in the workplace (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania).