Understanding Implicit Bias

Activity: Jewish, Arab, and Muslim Americans: Experiencing Ethnocentrism as Racism 

Doing Sociology 11.2 Understanding Implicit Bias

This exercise requires you to examine implicit biases against Muslims. In Barack Hussein Obama’s 2004 Democratic National Convention speech that amplified his political career, he alluded to the prejudice and discrimination he has faced for simply having an Arabic, “Muslim-sounding” name. In his speech, he asserted “that in a tolerant America, your name is no barrier to success.”

Reflect on and write responses to the following questions: 

1. What social institutions (e.g., media, education, family) influence the development of implicit Islamophobia?
2. What are some of the Islamophobic ideas that these social institutions promote? 
3. How does implicit Islamophobia harm Muslims? What barriers to success does it create? 
4. What can people do to counteract their own implicit biases against Muslims?

Note to Instructors: 
The exercise is best used as a reflection assignment outside of class because students may be wary of sharing their results in front of peers. For an in-class discussion, rather than asking students to share their answers to the questions, you may ask students to address questions about why institutional and structural reasons implicit biases exist, how they are reinforced, and consequences of biases. For online classes, you might follow up the reflection assignment by asking students to post answers to the same questions in a discussion forum or in small groups. Assure students that implicit biases do not make someone racist, rather awareness of your implicit biases can help you avoid acting on them. We used the following website: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/.