Racial bias in NBA foul calls?

[Arthur Dent]

An recent academic study found that there was a racial bias in foul calls in the NBA. Read about the study here.
Another academic specialist on racial bias said:

I would be more surprised if [a racial bias] didn’t exist. There’s a growing consensus that a large proportion of racialized decisions is not driven by any conscious race discrimination, but that it is often just driven by unconscious, or subconscious, attitudes. When you force people to make snap decisions, they often can’t keep themselves from subconsciously treating blacks different than whites, men different from women.

I heard Commissioner Stern deny the results of the study on the radio the other day. He sounded very defensive.

[thrill]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it would seem that there aren't enough white people playing major minutes to justify the sample size as legitimate.

[Radio_Bugtussle]

Looks to me like some pointy head acadmic types need some constuctive things to do.

What a trivial, silly thing to study.

Or was this a project for the some "maintain my athletic eligibility" major?

[ToughGuy_BlueShirt]

This stuff never seizes to amaze me.

[StatmanCrothers]

The referee's uniform, do you see it as white with black stripes, or black with white stripes?

[Arthur Dent]

The referee's uniform, do you see it as white with black stripes, or black with white stripes?

LOL, but the NBA switched to ugly gray stretch shirts.

[StL Dan]

Lesee....the NBA is made up primarily black ballers...maybe 75% or more? And, more fouls are called on blacks than whites?

Truly mind boggling.

[Arthur Dent]

Lesee....the NBA is made up primarily black ballers...maybe 75% or more? And, more fouls are called on blacks than whites?

Truly mind boggling.

That's not what the study found. They found that white refs were more likely to call fouls on black players and black refs were more likely to call fouls on white players.

[ZigZagCardsFan]

Well it seems that the big 3 positions (forwards and center) get called for the most fouls. Since the ratio of black to white players at these positions is much larger than that at the guard spots, it would make sense that there's a higher percentage of penalties called on black players.

[StatmanCrothers]

The referee's uniform, do you see it as white with black stripes, or black with white stripes?

LOL, but the NBA switched to ugly gray stretch shirts.

That's commendable that you see it as an overall shade of gray. Biased people still see the stripes. It's that kind of fabric.