systemic bias

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   Unfair treatment of certain groups that results from the usual rules, habits or structures of an organization or society, not from one individual's prejudice.

   Grammar: Usually uncountable: systemic bias exists; sometimes countable when comparing kinds.

   Patterns

   • systemic bias against someone
   • systemic bias in something

   The report found systemic bias in the way the company promoted staff.

   Campaigners argue that systemic bias keeps some neighborhoods underfunded.

   Even without any hostile intent, systemic bias can shape who gets hired.

2. 2noununcountabletechnical

   A consistent error built into a method, tool or data set that pushes results the same way every time.

   Grammar: Often used with data, studies or algorithms: systemic bias in the data.

   Patterns

   • systemic bias in the data
   • systemic bias in a model

   The survey suffered from systemic bias because only online users were asked.

   Engineers found systemic bias in the training data of the hiring tool.

   Researchers tried to remove systemic bias from their sampling method.

Common combinations

address systemic bias

The school board promised to address systemic bias in discipline.

evidence of systemic bias

The audit found clear evidence of systemic bias in loan approvals.

root out systemic bias

The hospital set up a team to root out systemic bias in patient care.

systemic bias against women

The study documented systemic bias against women in senior roles.

systemic bias in the data

Systemic bias in the data skewed the predictions.

Synonyms and how they differ

institutional bias

Institutional bias focuses on a particular organization, while systemic bias can also cover society or a method as a whole.

structural bias

Structural bias stresses the framework of rules and laws, whereas systemic bias is the more common everyday term.

prejudice

Prejudice is a personal attitude held by an individual, while systemic bias works even when no one feels hostile.

Opposites

Word family

system noun

an organized set of rules or parts working together

systemic adjective

affecting a whole system, not just one part

bias noun

an unfair leaning for or against something

biased adjective

unfairly favoring one side

Commonly confused: systemic bias or systematic?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “systemic bias”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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