Social Impact Leadership Series: The Hidden Bias of Judging People by How They Talk

About the Event

Beyond conveying a message, what we say - and how we say it - conveys social meaning. People tend to judge others based on their speech before many other social indicators. And while linguistic diversity may cause social divisions, it also has the potential to facilitate social understanding.

Presented by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Programme on Social Innovation, this Social Impact Leadership Series event will dive into the dangers that arise when we judge people based on their speech, and how celebrating - rather than diminishing - diversity of language can help foster greater social inclusion and understanding.

University of Chicago Professor Katherine Kinzler will speak to the topic of linguistic prejudice by highlighting key themes from her book, How You Say It. Drawing on her own research in psychology, and on themes from linguistics, anthropology, economics, and the law, Professor Kinzler will provide evidence that language is critical to how people divide their social worlds. Dr. Jan Gube, assistant professor at The Education University of Hong Kong, will then speak to this topic from a local lens, honing in on how greater linguistic inclusion can support education for people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Professors Kinzler and Dr. Gube will then join in an interactive conversation around these topics, taking questions from event attendees.

This event will be offered virtually, with the potential for an in-person component if the situation and registrant demand allows.