Recognizing Prejudice and Indoctrination

A curated guide to understanding how bias is learned, reinforced, and unlearned.

📘 Foundational Books

• Claude Steele – Whistling Vivaldi
  On stereotype threat and how identity shapes performance and perception.

• Beverly Daniel Tatum – Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
  Racial identity development and how implicit segregation forms in schools and communities.

• Robert Sapolsky – Behave
  A masterclass in how biology, environment, and tribal instincts shape human behavior—including prejudice.

• Ibram X. Kendi – How to Be an Antiracist
  Goes beyond not being racist—toward actively identifying and undoing bias.

• David Livingstone Smith – Less Than Human
  Explores the psychological process of dehumanization through history and conflict.

• Jason Stanley – How Propaganda Works
  Dissects how democratic societies can be manipulated through fear-based and identity-driven rhetoric.

• Susan Jacoby – The Age of American Unreason
  Tracks the rise of anti-intellectualism and cultural indoctrination in American life.

• George Lakoff – Don’t Think of an Elephant
  On how language and framing embed beliefs and perpetuate political polarization.

• Erich Fromm – Escape from Freedom
  Examines why people gravitate toward authoritarian systems and rigid belief structures.

🎧 Podcasts, Videos, and Talks

• “Seeing White” – Scene on Radio
  Audio series unpacking the construction of whiteness and race in America.
  Listen

• NPR’s Hidden Brain – The Mind of the Village
  Looks at how communities perpetuate unconscious bias.
  Listen

• Julia Galef – Why You Think You’re Right – Even If You’re Wrong (TEDx)
  A brilliant breakdown of identity-protective reasoning.
  Watch

• Bryan Stevenson – We Need to Talk About Injustice (TED Talk)
  On the importance of proximity, truth-telling, and breaking systemic cycles.
  Watch

• Dan Dennett – Dangerous Memes and Mind Viruses
  On how cultural ideas act like viruses that shape thought and prejudice.
  Watch

📄 Articles & Interactive Tools

• Project Implicit – Harvard
  Take the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to explore unconscious biases.
  https://implicit.harvard.edu

• Smithsonian’s Talking About Race Portal
  Tools, frameworks, and activities for reflecting on race and bias.
  https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race

• Aeon Magazine – Brainwashing or Education?
  Thought-provoking piece on where indoctrination begins in childhood learning.
  Read

• Sapolsky on In-group/Out-group Bias
  How our brains are wired to create “us vs. them” divisions—and what we can do about it.
  Watch

• Gapminder – Dollar Street
  Explore how people really live around the world at different income levels.
  https://www.gapminder.org/

• Cognitive Bias Codex – Buster Benson
  A categorized visual map of 180+ known cognitive biases and how they distort thinking.
  Read