The Jacket

Overcoming bias is the overarching theme of The Jacket, and the novella examines how the biases we hold affect how we think about and act toward those around us. Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, is a pattern of unconscious negative assumptions we make about a specific social group, such as a certain race or gender. Implicit bias is part of implicit social cognition, the idea that attitudes, perceptions, and stereotypes may be triggered without conscious thought. Implicit processes are shaped by our environment, our upbringing, and our experiences. They are solidified by subconscious connections made between the social group and characteristics we are taught to associate with members of that group. The Jacket explores implicit bias in regard to race, specifically how Phil (a white kid) is implicitly biased against Daniel (a Black kid) based on perceptions that Black people are more prone to crime and less trustworthy than white people.

Since implicit bias occurs without conscious input, holding such biases does not necessarily mean someone is prejudiced against a group. The human brain is constantly receiving more information than it can handle, so, to keep itself functioning in a way that allows us to survive, it categorizes information based on what we think we know. This information includes the biases inherent in the society we live in, meaning that information we gain from society, even before we understand what that information means, is categorized based on societal norms and stigmas. As we become aware, these biases are reinforced by our upbringing, media, and other factors, resulting in biases we don’t know we have. In The Jacket, Phil has an implicit bias against Black people that is, at least, partially based on the influence of his parents’ similar biases, implicit or otherwise. This bias leads Phil to accuse Daniel of stealing the jacket even though he’s never had experiences that would make him believe Black people are criminals. Phil spends the book grappling with the difference between intentional and unconscious prejudice, and he considers the unique combination of factors that have led him to be biased without intention.

Despite being an unconscious phenomenon, implicit bias can do lasting harm, both to the person experiencing it and to the person who receives its effects. As Phil does over the course of the book, the best way to overcome implicit bias is to explore society’s messages that help form and reinforce our biases. The first step is to identify our implicit biases, which Phil does when he realizes Daniel didn’t steal the jacket. Once a bias is identified, key strategies to overcoming it include understanding where the bias came from (Phil realizes his parents hold the same bias) and spending time with members of the group you are biased against (as Phil does when he visits Daniel’s house and discovers Daniel’s home and family are much like Phil’s own). In addition, you can practice inclusivity by obtaining information from sources maintained by other groups or intentionally seeking out people with different lived experiences from your own. Altogether, these approaches can help minimize implicit bias, but it is important to remember that the human brain still operates the same way it did before implicit biases were addressed, meaning that it takes consistent, dedicated work to keep implicit biases from reforming.