Topics: Bro Culture

Posted By: Wenlong Tang 01/10/2023.

“BigBlueGumball – Culture Crash graphic recording w/ Cherches bros.” by Steve Cherches is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Bro Culture

Brother culture as a mainstream culture exists widely all over the world. As a culture, brother culture usually refers to men uniting together to help each other in a team or organization (Jones, 2017). Because of this culture, men often enthusiastically seek cooperation with other men to achieve their common goals. Brother culture seems to be about men helping men, but under the influence of this culture. Men begin to only want to cooperate with men and refuse or do not want to cooperate with anyone other than men. In the context of bro culture, men begin to reject women unintentionally or intentionally, which leads to men’s rejection of women and sexism against women. Therefore, bro culture has subtly influenced men to discriminate against women in society.

In modern society with the rapid development of the Internet, brotherhood culture has not disappeared from society. Instead, bro culture is perpetuated on the Internet. The middle class or upper-middle class, dominated by white men, began to form an organization that shared culture but excluded people from lower-educated groups. For example, the majority of researchers in Silicon Valley are white male scientists, but there are very few people of other races (Lusoli & Turner, 2021). This means that Silicon Valley is dominated by white men, supplemented by other races or women. As a result, a bro culture has begun to emerge in Silicon Valley, with white men helping white men, excluding other races and discriminating against women. The popularity of bro culture has led to issues of racial inequality and female bias.

Racial Inequality

“Pittsburgh—Each year, high school students implement a project to create change in their community as part of their exploration of racial inequality and human rights. In 2011, they successfully petitioned Pittsburgh to declare itself a Human Rights City.” by AFSC Photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The bro-culture of Silicon Valley limits job opportunities for other ethnic groups. Silicon Valley is a predominantly white male group, and the bro culture in Silicon Valley is more about white men helping white men. As a result, other ethnic groups are ostracized in Silicon Valley. The proportion of other ethnic groups, mainly Chinese and Indian immigrants, engaged in the technical workforce in Silicon Valley is only 21%. In addition, they will be assigned to a relatively marginal job by the Silicon Valley mechanism, excluding them from the white male bro culture (Shih, 2006). This means that other ethnic groups, mainly Chinese, will have fewer job opportunities under the influence of Silicon Valley’s brotherly culture. Even if other ethnic groups successfully join the workforce, they will be excluded by white men, marginalizing their jobs, resulting in fewer and fewer other ethnic groups being able to join Silicon Valley. On the other hand, Asians are also greatly hindered when it comes to entering management positions. According to the report, Asian engineers are paid the same as non-Asian engineers, but Asians are naturally at a disadvantage when applying for jobs or being promoted to management positions. Approximately 67% of Asians believe they are unable to obtain management positions, and the reason for this is that the vast majority of company executives believe that Asians are underrepresented at the top of their companies (Shih, 2006). This means that it is difficult for Asians to enter management jobs in Silicon Valley because it is difficult for them to be accepted by the white male bro culture. As a result, it is almost impossible for Asians to get management jobs. Generally speaking, in a bro culture dominated by white men, they are unwilling to accept men from other cultures. This has resulted in limited job opportunities for other ethnic groups in Silicon Valley, and management positions that are all but closed to other ethnic groups. So, bro culture leads to issues of racial inequality.

Female Bias

Discrimination against women in Silicon Valley under bro culture

Algorithms within bro culture create serious biases against women. In modern society with the increasing advancement of Internet technology, algorithms have become an indispensable part of people’s lives. As people rely heavily on algorithms, this has gradually led to the problem of algorithmic bias. In traditional societies with a brotherly culture, men seek out other men for cooperation, thus excluding women. This bro culture phenomenon has gradually evolved with Internet technology into today’s algorithmic bias. Algorithmic bias is a technical flaw, but it’s actually a social bias. The algorithm is not as fair and just as imagined. On the contrary, it inherits the concept of men helping men in bro culture and is biased against women. For example, the stereotype of women in algorithms is that they are not good at management positions and that they have a natural disadvantage in administrative positions. Amid this algorithmic bias, 75% of Amazon’s management positions are held by men (Kordzadeh & Ghasemaghaei, 2022). This means there is a bias against women in management positions, with men not believing women to be well qualified for the position. As the main creators of the algorithm, men’s biases against women are baked into the algorithm. This has led to the algorithm becoming unfair, with the algorithm gradually tending to help men find employment and exclude women from employment. Beyond that, algorithmic bias also exists in life. For example, Apple uses algorithms to assess men’s and women’s credit limits. Typically, women receive far less credit than men, even if they have a higher credit score (Kordzadeh & Ghasemaghaei, 2022). This means that women will be at a natural disadvantage, and algorithmic bias against women has appeared in every corner of society. In general, bro culture has been subtly integrated into the Internet algorithm, and the algorithm has brought serious prejudice to women’s employment and life.

Solution

“Data Innovation Day 2016 – Algorithms, Automation, and Public Policy” by datainnovation is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Artificial intelligence technology is integrated into the modern society of algorithms, and racial inequality and female prejudice under the brother culture are improved. Algorithmic bias results in unequal treatment and bias against minorities, other ethnic groups, and women. As a system, artificial intelligence can very well improve the shortcomings of algorithms. Artificial intelligence fairly analyzes data through mathematical models to quantify possible biases in algorithms (Fazelpour & Danks, 2021). This means that algorithms under bro culture can use artificial intelligence to modify employment biases against minorities and other ethnic groups, thereby increasing their chances of obtaining management positions and reducing racial inequality. In addition, artificial intelligence will also correct the algorithm’s bias against women. This means that the phenomenon of women being discriminated against by algorithms will be greatly reduced, and women can have more job opportunities and fairer treatment. Therefore, artificial intelligence technology reduces human irrational decision-making with objective decision-making, thereby reducing algorithm bias. While the use of AI may lead to discriminatory outcomes, discriminatory outcomes can be addressed through balanced collection of data from various groups (Houser, 2019). Overall, AI technology can reduce racial inequality and bias against women by collecting data on various groups and making objective decisions.

In general, the original intention of bro culture is that men help men, but it excludes women. In today’s society with the rapid development of Internet technology, brotherhood culture has been subtly integrated into Silicon Valley. This has resulted in racial inequalities and female bias for minorities, other ethnic groups, and women in their job search, job promotion, and life. In a bro culture dominated by white men, racial inequality and female bias are increasingly serious issues. As artificial intelligence technology is integrated into the algorithm, it reduces the bias of the algorithm by collecting data from various groups to make objective decisions. It successfully alleviates the problems of racial inequality and female bias in bro culture.

Reference list

Fazelpour, S., & Danks, D. (2021). Algorithmic bias: Senses, sources, solutions. Philosophy Compass, 16(8), e12760.   https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12760

Houser, K. (2019). Can AI solve the diversity problem in the tech industry. Mitigating Noise and Bias in Employment Decision-Making, 65.

Jones, J. R. (2017). Brojobs, Bro Culture, and Hegemonic Masculinity: A Call to Reconceptualize How Educators Address Homophobia. In Feather Boas, Black Hoodies, and John Deere Hats (pp. 101-103). Brill

Kordzadeh, N., & Ghasemaghaei, M. (2022). Algorithmic bias: review, synthesis, and future research directions. European Journal of Information Systems, 31(3), 388-409.  https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2021.1927212

Lusoli, A., & Turner, F. (2021). “It’s an Ongoing Bromance”: Counterculture and Cyberculture in Silicon Valley—An Interview with Fred Turner. Journal of Management Inquiry, 30(2), 235-242. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492620941075

Shih, J. (2006). Circumventing discrimination: Gender and ethnic strategies in Silicon Valley. Gender & Society, 20(2), 177-206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205285474