The topic of ‘unconscious bias’ within the royal family is firmly back in the news.
Following the publication of Endgame by Omid Scobie, discourse has once again turned to allegations of racial discrimination – after the royal reporter claimed that the Duchess of Sussex had written letters to King Charles to discuss her concerns about unconscious bias within the royal family. The story centres around Meghan and Harry's claims that members of the family had “concerns” about their son Archie's skin colour – this issue, of course, was first referenced by the couple back in 2021 during their much-publicised interview with Oprah.
Since then, two senior royals have been ‘named’ as being involved, after a Dutch translation of Endgame allegedly included them – something that Scobie has denied as a “translation error”.
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Debate rattles on as to what actually happened, since Scobie has expressed that he never named any names in his original transcript of the book – but either way, the allegations of racism, or ‘unconscious bias’, as Prince Harry has previously described it, are serious.
Earlier this year, the royal sat down with journalist Tom Bradby on ITV and denied that the royal family is racist – but instead claimed they were guilty of unconscious bias.
"There is a difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different,” he said. “But once it's been acknowledged, or pointed out to you as an individual, or as an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you therefore have an opportunity to learn and grow from that, in order so that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem.” He then added: “Otherwise unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.”
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However, as the internet and the general public unpack these claims, there are a few questions that come to mind. What is unconscious bias? What is the difference between unconscious bias and racism and where do we draw this fine line between them?
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I was surprised by how convincingly Harry spoke on unconscious bias. In the past few years he’s been showered with compliments and awards, celebrating his allyship and racial activism, so this take on racism (which were evidently demonstrated by the comments made by his family members) seems misguided and feels like a cop out. It is clear to me that above all else, protecting the monarchy is still very much a priority for him.
The Prince has discussed unconscious bias before – back in 2020 he opened up about his relationship with the concept, and how he was forced to face up to his own bias after meeting his now wife Meghan Markle.
Speaking with Black Lives Matter activist Patrick Hutchinson for British GQ, Harry explained that he's learned more about bias because of Meghan. “Unconscious bias, from my understanding, having the upbringing and the education that I had, I had no idea what it was. I had no idea it existed,” he said. “And then, sad as it is to say, it took me many, many years to realise it, especially then living a day or a week in my wife's shoes. Whether it's politics or whether it's the media, whether if you're not aware of your own bias and you're not aware of the culture within your system, then how are we ever going to progress? How are we ever going to get to that point where there is more fairness?” Harry added. “Because it's not a zero-sum game, right? Everyone benefits if the black community gets treated the way they should be treated.
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Although I truly believe that Prince Harry has served people of colour well, by loudly identifying as an ally, I do believe that the language he used to describe unconscious bias was watered down and misused. What I believe Harry also failed to recognise was that for unconscious bias to exist, there needs to be a level of unconsciousness and unaccountability from said person. However, for every allegation thrown at the royal family, they have doubled down. Recall the “recollections may vary” comment from the Queen on Harry and Meghan's claims of racism.
What is unconscious bias?
Unconscious biases are internalised stereotypes based on gender, race, accent, height and looks which affect how we perceive outside our conscious awareness and control.
What is the difference between unconscious bias and racism, and where is this fine line between them?
The dictionary definition of racism says that it’s “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior." This doesn’t differ too much from the definition of bias, however, there is no mention of it being conscious when pertained to racism alone. However, claiming that racism and unconscious bias are mutually exclusive creates room for unaccountability.
From the conversations around Archie’s skin tone, to the line of questions by Lady Susan Hussey to Ngozi Fulani around her race, to even using the ‘P’ word without understanding it as a slur (Prince Harry references doing so in his new autobiography ‘Spare’), these are all harmful and inherently racist actions, even if done unconsciously.
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There are things like words, and discriminatory actions that are self explanatory and very evidently wrong, and the lack of awareness is often hard to justify – and cannot deny the power they hold to cause disruption. Both unconscious bias and racism can cause the same impact, even if the intention behind them mildly differs.
Sadly, racism doesn’t stop being racism because you didn’t realise it could cause offence. Judging others based on their skin colour and the stereotypes attached to marginalised groups because you’ve been conditioned by either the media, systems and society as a whole (even though you may have not noticed) is also in fact, still, racism. Bias relating to a minority race is classified as racism, and both racism and unconscious bias can coexist in a single space.
It’s understandable that Harry is simply trying to protect his family and the monarchy. However, partitioning unconscious bias from racism is a dangerous game, and can have serious repercussions to the racial equity movement .
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It’s also important to note that we all carry a certain degree of unconscious and or natural biases. It’s human nature. However, unconscious bias affects marginalised groups more severely. For example: if a disabled shop owner hired a person with a disability over another way more qualified roster of shopkeepers, and he couldn't quite justify why, it's likely his unconscious bias kicked in. Had the script flipped, the shop keeper candidates had a case to sue this shop owner for discrimination. However, since disabled people (the marginalised group) often lack opportunities in this field of work, this opportunity allows room to create leverage in the disabled community. So the outcome is positive. The fact that these other able-bodied shopkeepers were snubbed this time is unlikely to create a chain of oppression and systemic tyranny, as they are more than likely to be able to find opportunities elsewhere. This format is often associated with affirmative-action. For Harry, using a blanket statement to sugar-coat racism in the institution was perhaps irresponsible.
The actress Anne Hathaway admitted that the first time she worked with a woman director – Lone Scherfig, in the film One Day – her instinct was to doubt her. "I really regret not trusting her more easily," Hathaway said. "And I am to this day scared that the reason I didn’t trust her the way I trust some of the other directors I work with is because she’s a woman." Accusing herself ruefully of "internalised misogyny", Hathaway said that she realised that when she sees a film directed by a woman, she finds herself focusing on its faults; when it’s by a man, she looks first at its merits.
This is what our implicit or unconscious biases are. These are the biases or prejudices that we might not always be aware of but they affect our actions, decisions and interactions with other people. These internalised stereotypes of people based on their gender, race, accent, height, looks all affect how we perceive other people. This is different to explicit bias (these are attitudes and beliefs on a conscious level, such as hate speech), although understandably there can be overlap in the way these are expressed in the form of discrimination, prejudice and injustice. Our unconscious biases are those that take us away from absolute rational, logical decision-making, the ones that manifest themselves in our actions and reactions often without us realising it, rearing their heads when we least expect it and sometimes taking us by surprise.
For instance, when YouTube launched the video upload feature for their app, 5–10 percent of videos were uploaded upside-down, and for a while Google developers were baffled. Eventually they figured out it wasn’t poor design; they had only considered right-handed users. Their unconscious bias had overlooked the fact that left-handed users would turn the phone/app by 180 degrees. In fact, left-handedness has suffered from an unfavourable perception for a long time. Scissors, musical instruments and knives are all designed for people who are right-handed, disadvantaged left-handed users. In this case, the societal norm is right- handedness, and society is unconsciously biased towards it.
In recent years, the interest in unconscious or implicit bias has increased. These terms are now being used to explain everyday discriminatory behaviour, and references to research into unconscious bias as a key to understanding and tackling social discrimination are at an all-time high. However, as the awareness, coverage and content around unconscious bias escalates, there is also plenty of misleading information out there. Not all bias is implicit. Unconscious bias does not explain all prejudice and discrimination. And there is a real danger of unconscious bias being reduced to a ‘trend’ or a ‘fluff word’ and being used to excuse all sorts of discriminatory behaviour. This is why it is now becoming more crucial, more urgent, than ever to understand what unconscious bias really means, how it is formed, and what its underpinning scientific principles and theories are.
Most accent discrimination and prejudice is insidious. Accents are our way of defining ourselves and others. There have been studies showing that any accent that is not similar to our own is immediately characterised as foreign. When people listen to an accent they immediately characterise and label it, and if there are other aspects of the accent that don’t correspond with this label, it is ignored. Speaking with a non-native accent can influence perceptions of the speaker’s fluency, and expectations concerning performance abilities. Moreover, speaking with a non-native accent may lead speakers to feel excluded and devalued at work. We tend to unconsciously group people into a specific social class and prejudice against them based on their accents. By thinking that someone with a particular accent is not very smart or clever, we are showing our unconscious bias.
These preferences for certain attributes create a hierarchy in our society where certain groups of people have more privilege, opportunities, and power than others. In Western societies, ‘white’ remains the norm. According to an analytical study by the Guardian of 214 covers published by the 19 bestselling glossies in 2017 in the UK, only 20 featured a person of colour, although around 14 per cent of the UK population is BAME, according to the Office for National Statistics’ latest estimate, published in June 2016. Clearly this is not an accurate representation of the society at large.
Each of us form and carry unconscious biases of some sort. It’s not only the behaviour of bigoted, racist or sexist people but of everyone, including you and me. So really the answer is to go to the roots, to understand the processes that shape us, to be aware, to acknowledge that we are all biased – to a certain degree – and that we all discriminate. Being aware of how our own implicit biases are shaped by our own upbringing and our life experiences can help us minimise these in our roles as parents, carers, friends and educators. Taking our time with important decisions can help us de-automatise. This means that we do not fall back on our unconscious biases, but instead activate our logical and rational thinking and actively bust any biases that can affect our decisions.
Awareness is always the first step. Only then can we begin to address the biases so deeply ingrained in our society.
Dr Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural scientist, journalist and the author of ‘SWAY: Unravelling Unconscious Bias’.
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