5: Wrongful Discrimination

What are “protected traits”? What are some examples?

Protected traits are demographic or group characteristics (such as race, sex, or religion) against which discrimination is legally restricted or prohibited under anti-discrimination laws.

What is Andrew Altman’s definition of wrongful discrimination?

Andrew Altman defines wrongful discrimination as a decision procedure where a person treats members of social group x less favorably than group y, social group membership causally explains this differential treatment, and the difference in treatment is not morally justified.

Is each of the three conditions in Altman’s definition a necessary condition, a sufficient condition, or both a necessary and sufficient condition for wrongful discrimination? Why?

Each of the three conditions is a necessary condition on its own because every single condition must be met for a procedure to count as wrongful discrimination, though all three together are jointly sufficient.

Be able to apply Altman’s definition to examples such as the following: Is a hospital policy of scheduling women over 40 for annual mammograms, but not men, an example of wrongful discrimination according to Altman’s definition? Why or why not?

A hospital policy scheduling only women over 40 for annual mammograms is not wrongful discrimination under Altman's definition because the differential treatment based on sex and age is morally and medically justified. Because condition 3 (that the differential treatment lacks moral justification) is not met, the policy is not wrongfully discriminatory.

What is direct discrimination? What is indirect discrimination?

Direct discrimination is wrongful discrimination resulting from a negative attitude (such as animus or negligence) toward the less favorably treated group.

Indirect discrimination is wrongful discrimination that does not stem from a negative attitude, operating instead through neutral criteria that disproportionately impact a group.

What two forms can direct discrimination take? What is an example of each?

Direct discrimination can stem from animus (e.g., a hiring manager who actively avoids hiring Black applicants) or negligence (e.g., a hiring manager who reads job applications from female candidates less carefully before rejecting them).

What is a proxy? In what way does indirect discrimination often involve proxy characteristics?

A proxy is a decision-making factor that correlates positively or negatively with membership in a protected social group. Indirect discrimination often involves proxies because an algorithm can produce demographically unequal outcomes by evaluating seemingly neutral criteria (like high school diplomas or credit scores) that track group membership.

What is Boonin’s definition of direct algorithmic discrimination?

What is Boonin’s definition of indirect algorithmic discrimination?

Direct algorithmic discrimination occurs when an algorithm explicitly uses group membership to disadvantage a group, whereas indirect algorithmic discrimination occurs when an algorithm uses proxy features that correlate with group membership.

How do direct algorithmic discrimination and indirect algorithmic discrimination differ with respect to which members of a group they disadvantage?

What is an example that illustrates this difference?

a. Disadvantaged Members: Direct algorithmic discrimination disadvantages every member of a group, whereas indirect algorithmic discrimination disadvantages the average member of a group.

b. Illustrative Example: A loan algorithm that directly lowers scores for Black applicants disadvantages every Black applicant, whereas an algorithm evaluating only credit scores disadvantages the average Black applicant due to historical wealth gaps while still approving Black applicants with strong repayment histories.

What is one important difference between ORACLE and racial profiling (hint: it has to do with the difference between direct and indirect discrimination)?

Racial profiling constitutes direct discrimination because it takes race into account directly and explicitly. In contrast, ORACLE involves indirect discrimination because it evaluates non-racial risk factors that correlate with race without taking race as an explicit input.

In Boonin’s two police hiring examples, how does hiring practice 1 differ from hiring practice 2? Does Boonin think hiring practice 2 is wrong? Why or why not?

Hiring Practice 1 directly favors White applicants based on race, whereas Hiring Practice 2 requires a college degree, which indirectly disadvantages Black applicants due to societal educational disparities. Boonin argues Hiring Practice 2 is not wrong because requiring a college degree is morally justified if having a degree is genuinely relevant to job performance.