racialized
What It Means
Racialized refers to when society assigns racial categories or identities to groups of people, regardless of how those people see themselves. This process happens through social systems, policies, and practices that treat people differently based on perceived racial characteristics. It's about how race becomes socially constructed and imposed on groups rather than being a natural or biological reality.
Why Chief AI Officers Care
AI systems can perpetuate or amplify racialization by automatically categorizing people into racial groups for decision-making, even when race isn't relevant to the business purpose. This creates legal liability under civil rights laws and can result in discriminatory outcomes in hiring, lending, healthcare, or customer service. Companies face regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage when their AI systems reinforce harmful racial categorizations.
Real-World Example
A resume screening AI system automatically categorizes job applicants by race based on names, school locations, or other proxy data, then uses these racial categories to filter candidates even though the company never explicitly programmed it to consider race. The system has 'racialized' applicants by imposing racial identities that affect hiring decisions, potentially violating equal employment laws.
Common Confusion
People often confuse racialized with racism itself, but racialization is the broader process of creating and assigning racial categories, while racism is prejudice or discrimination based on those categories. Racialization can happen even without intentional bias - it's about systems that sort people into racial groups regardless of intent.
Industry-Specific Applications
See how this term applies to healthcare, finance, manufacturing, government, tech, and insurance.
Healthcare: In healthcare, racialized populations often experience disparate health outcomes due to systemic barriers, provider bias...
Finance: In finance, racialized practices occur when lending, credit scoring, investment opportunities, or financial services are...
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- 6 industry-specific applications
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- Real compliance scenarios
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Technical Definitions
NISTNational Institute of Standards and Technology
"A socio-political process by which groups are ascribed a racial identity, whether or not members of the group self-identify as such"Source: AAAS_AI_and_Bias_2022-09
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