"Understanding bias toward Latinos: Discrimination, dimensions of difference, and experience of exclusion" (Dovido et al, 2010) examined bias against Latinos in the US. There are four empirical studies. Study 1 measured bias against Latinos in convenient store settings with the action of buying $10 gift certificates with personal checks. Convenient store cashiers asked Latinos to pay more than $10 for the gift certificate 9% of the time and white Americans 2% of the time. When paying by personal checks, cashiers asked Latinos for ID 12% more than they did with white Americans. Study 2 examined two cultural dimensions of "civic" and "ethnic". Results suggested that white Americans judge other groups with different levels of moral intensity depending on the "distance" from such groups per mentioned dimensions. Study 3 and 4 focused more on the effect of social identity cue.
While the paper offered valuable insights with interesting results, there are some concerns regarding the employed methodologies. For example, asking for buyers' IDs if they are Latinos is not a strong discrimination measurement since there are legal and monetary factors involved. If a convenient store is in an all-white neighborhood, they will most likely check IDs of the people who are not from the neighborhood – the Latinos but also the Blacks and the Asians. Also, cashiers may skip ID checking if the store was busy. Since the studies were carried out in Connecticut, the results cannot be generalized to “bias toward Latinos” (Dovido et al, 2010). The same studies may yield different results when they are carried out in Los Angeles, CA or Houston, TX.
The paper’s hypothesis regarding the link between non-native accents and the feeling of exclusion is not persuasive. There are many more factors such as social status, personal relationships, financial achievements, academic achievements once combined can out-weight accents. However, the paper raised an interesting point regarding the relationship between culture and moral intensity. Literature indeed listed "Ethical values" as one element of culture along with traditions, religions, politics, philosophy, art/literature, and science/technology (Gilbert, 2009).
There are 9 ethic theories: subjective relativism, cultural relativism, divine command, egoism, kantianism, act utilitarianism, rule utilitarianism, social contract, and virtue (Quinn, 2015) but none of them is perfect. It shows by the fact that if we follow one or two of the 9, we can always find ourselves in conflicts with a second or third.
Rausch, Lindquist and Steckel wrote a paper on the possible differences among US and EU countries and agreed that "National culture is widely recognized in the literature as having an impact on various stages of ethical decision-making" (Rausch, Lindquist, Steckel, 2014, p. 3). For example, Americans tend to make decisions that benefit the whole, yet the self has to be protected first. Germans care more about the moral obligations with the communities and how decisions will be perceived by peers. It explains why Americans usually do not have problem with being a whistle-blower, and why European firms are less likely to employ institutional ethics. Another interesting case is World War II with the French surrendered to the Nazis and the British kept fighting. France and Britain are so close to each other, yet their decisions can be drastically different at times. Moral intensity and ethical perspectives have a dynamic relationship with culture and are reflected through the decisions we make in our daily lives especially in tough times. Noticeably, France, the UK, Germany and the US are leading nations. Therefore, we cannot judge the mentioned differences as “good” or “bad”.
We ourselves usually have problems in dealing with the actions that were believed to be wrong and in making decisions on the actions that are neither right nor wrong. It might as well be the case with our future patients/targeted customers. Different views on the definition of "ethics" or "moral standards" may also cause conflicts on issues of race, religions, globalization, LGBTQ - the other aspects of culture. However, having a strong ethic foundation may help with navigating tough situations mentally, physically or both. In dealing with imperfections, I prefer the case study approach. In fact, I view "Black like me" (Griffin, 1961) as a giant case with series of small cases within it from which we are able to examine different sides of a big problem.
References
Dovidio, J. F., Gluszek, A., John, M., Ditlmann, R., & Lagunes, P. (2010). Understanding Bias toward Latinos: Discrimination, Dimensions of Difference, and Experience of Exclusion. Journal of Social Issues, 66(1), 59-78. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01633.x
National Science Foundation. (n.d.). Report - S&E Indicators 2018 | NSF - National Science Foundation. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/science-and-engineering-labor-force/immigration-and-the-s-e-workforce
Gilbert, D. (2009). Understanding Western culture: An online slide show. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/randomwire/understanding-western-cultural
Rausch, A., Lindquist, T., & Steckel, M. (2014). A test of u.s. versus germanic european ethical decision-making and perceptions of moral intensity: Could ethics differ within western culture? Journal of Managerial Issues, 26(3), 259-285.
Quinn, M. J. (2015). Ethics for the information age (6th ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson.
Griffin, J. H. (1961). Black like me. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
