(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A recent study endeavored to point out the inherent disadvantage and racism of having so-called “racialized names” for dogs up for adoption who were given “black- and Hispanic-sounding names.”
Natasha Quadlin, associate professor of Sociology at University of California Los Angeles, argued that the penalizing of racialized names are not limited to just people.
When shelter dogs have racialized names, what happens to their adoption outcomes?https://t.co/AtALSITDcF
In a new paper with Bradley Montgomery of @osusoc, we tracked dogs for six months and found that their names did in fact matter – a short 🧵
— Natasha Quadlin (@nquadlin) June 7, 2022
Quadlin begins the study by claiming that these names, when attached to people, may limit their opportunities for jobs or housing.
“This ultimately boils down to an assessment that black workers are considered less “worthy” than White workers, all else equal, given that status-based theories of discrimination hinge on assessments of worthiness,” she said.
Her thesis, however, is that racialized names may not just be tied to people and it may effect dogs and their ability to be adopted.
Predictably, they did not make any significant discoveries.
“In the case of dog adoption, status-based arguments about the effects of racialized names are far less relevant,” she explained. “We could not reasonably conclude, for example, that adopters make judgments about a dog’s competence or likeability based on their racialized name.”
“White sounding names” included names such as Ben, Austin Maggie and Beth; “Black sounding” featured names like Tyson and Leroy, and “Hispanic Sounding” names like Paco, Nino and Maria.
The study found that adopters did not perceive names as “black sounding” or “Hispanic sounding,” but apparently dogs with “white sounding” names were adopted faster than their counterparts.
Closing thoughts stated the belief that although dogs with white-sounding names may be adopted faster than dogs with names that may be attributed to other races, shelter personnel should not give all dogs white sounding names as that would be “leaning into bias.”
“[Giving dogs white sounding names] would do nothing to combat the beliefs that allow these inequalities to persist, both in the context of the dog shelter and in the wider world,” the study concluded. “We therefore advise against this practice because this would be akin to leaning into bias.”
“We cannot alter our behavior as a society to accommodate those with racist inclinations, even when those inclinations manifest in unlikely places.”
