Professor Bezio introduced the concept of cultural and implicit bias in her second podcast episode. Most notably, she discussed the ways in which bias has been framed as a “dirty word,” and in turn, having bias is a bad thing. However, we forget that each one of us experiences biases every single day. The environment in which one grows up in and their experiences shape their biases, making each of us have different thoughts and feelings. Biases become a problem when we do not recognize their presence, and use them to categorize ourselves vs. “others.”
Professor Bezio gives the example of Shakespeare as an example of how our perceptions of low and high culture change. Because of Shakespeare’s use of inappropriate sexual innuendos, in his time, he was considered by the upper classes as low culture or “other.” In today’s world, Shakespeare and his work are considered the epitome of theatre and high culture. I think this is a really important example to emphasize the importance and presence of change within our biases. Exposure to new things and changing biases are not bad: Prof. Bezio also pointed out Dinsey’s recent inclusion of multicultural princesses as a means of change.
I think the example of Shakespeare is a very interesting one to use, for as you point out, despite the inappropriate language used, Shakespeare has come to be seen as high class in our society. This example depicts how what we consider to be high class and low class is truly a social concept, for there is nothing that inherently makes Shakespear’s high culture; instead, it is how people categorize these subjects and the implicit biases that create these categorizations and further them.
I appreciate you highlighting this idea that bias itself is not inherently bad, it’s how bias is used that becomes problematic. I think having a conversation about bias often immediately jumps to the conclusion that bias is bad and only focus on the the harmful use of bias, but distinguishing the difference between bias and the use of bias helps change the conversation and more effectively can articulate what is harmful about the use of certain biases.
I think that by distinguishing the two, we as a society will be able to have better and more meaningful conversations about biases and how we can go about solving the issues that they create. If bias is used as a “dirty word” as mentioned above, it can be hard to facilitate conversations to avoid them.
I agree that it’s fascinating how the perception of certain things morphs over time, like the Shakespeare example: it used to be something seen as “low culture” but has arisen to “high culture” over time. It reminds me of how people see certain songs, take “WAP” by Cardi B. and Megan Thee Stallion for example, as crude and low culture, when they may as well become high culture in a hundred or so years as society progresses and begins to develop new ideas about what is considered “high culture”
I like how you brought in the issue of cultural bias when it comes to art and how what is perceived as tacky or uncouth is incredibly fluid. Our cultural biases are especially hard to call out in the moment because we fear that pointing them out will lead us to be “othered” as well. I also agree with Hayley’s point that “WAP” will certainly be seen as a cultural masterpiece by the coming generations.