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SUMMARY:Rationalizing discrimination - Zeynep Pamuk (LSE)
DTSTART:20230223T153000Z
DTEND:20230223T170000Z
UID:TALK196336@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jacob Stegenga
DESCRIPTION:Statistical discrimination is typically defined as the use of 
 statistical generalizations about ascriptive identities\, such as race or 
 gender\, as a proxy for individual attributes that are unknown and difficu
 lt to observe. While moral and political philosophers have questioned whet
 her it is fair\, they usually concede that it is rational. This paper exam
 ines the invention of the concept of statistical discrimination in neoclas
 sical economic models of the labor market in the 1970s and exposes the pro
 blematic presuppositions behind the claim that it constitutes a distinctly
  rational and nonprejudiced form of discrimination. I show that these mode
 ls followed standard disciplinary fictions of economics without considerin
 g their accuracy or plausibility in the discrimination case\, and the empi
 rical literature has accepted these assumptions without verifying them. Th
 e result has been a conceptual blind spot around the possibility of prejud
 iced but belief-driven discrimination\, as well as the popularization of a
  problematic notion of rationality whose normative effect is to condone pr
 ofit maximization. I go on to show how findings of statistical discriminat
 ion in the empirical literature have been used to push for policy prescrip
 tions that exonerate those who discriminate as a side effect of the pursui
 t of profit\, while putting the burdens of discrimination on those who are
  discriminated against.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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