Framework

Three types of discrimination

The question it answers

When an HR director finds gaps in hiring or promotion, is the cause intentional bias, unconscious bias or structural, and what remedy does each type need?

Origin
Rawls, 2001; Young, 2008; Kahneman, 2011; Bertrand and Mullainathan, 2004; Bertrand, Chugh and Mullainathan, 2005
Diagram type
Comparison table
Level of analysis
Firm
Topics
Ethics & corporate governanceChange management
Clay balance scale with two level glass pans, icon for business ethics

Diagram

Three types of discrimination

CriterionExplicitImplicitStructural
MechanismDeliberate, based on prejudice or discriminatory rulesAutomatic reflexes (System 1) skew judgementNeutral-looking rules and norms that reproduce group disadvantage
Intentional?YesNoNo
ExampleLaws or rules that exclude a groupIdentical CVs with different names get different call-back ratesA neutral parental-leave policy that mostly the lower earner (usually women) ends up using
Level of remedyLaw and disciplineProcess controls and changing awarenessPolicy and institutional change

Sources

References

Listed A–Z by author surname, Harvard style. A source with a DOI links to https://doi.org/…; one without links to its page or says plainly that it has no DOI.

  1. Bertrand, M. and Mullainathan, S. (2004) ‘Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination’, American Economic Review, 94(4), pp. 991–1013.doi:10.1257/0002828042002561Source page
  2. Bertrand, M., Chugh, D. and Mullainathan, S. (2005) ‘Implicit discrimination’, American Economic Review, 95(2), pp. 94–98.doi:10.1257/000282805774670365Source page
  3. Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.No DOISource page
  4. Rawls, J. (2001) Justice as fairness: a restatement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.doi:10.2307/j.ctv31xf5v0Source page
  5. Young, I.M. (2008) ‘Structural injustice and the politics of difference’, in Intersectionality and beyond. Abingdon: Routledge-Cavendish, pp. 289–314.doi:10.4324/9780203890882-23Source page