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Discrimination by Default: How Racism Becomes Routine (Critical America Series)

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A law professor's critical analysis of our society's discrimination by default

Lu-in Wang contends that the largest share of modern discrimination (in medical care, in certain professions, in media attention to crimes, etc.) is by default and not by design (or ill will). As one example among many (this one having to do with sexism), the author notes that until symphony orchestras began holding `blind' auditions with musicians performing behind a screen or curtain, male musicians tended to be hired exclusively; now, of course, the gender balance has evened out. Psychologically, it was an unconscious expectation on the part of those judging that the male musicians sounded better than the female. Professor Wang gives many illustrations of this phenomenon by which expectations influence the outcome and often become `reality'-the self-fulfilling prophecy.

In this fine book published by New York University Press, the author suggests ways by which society can override the default processes that promote discrimination, particularly, and most critically, in the legal system and in medical care.