There is a theory that one reason we are more inclined to spend time with people who are similar to us is that biologically we’ve been programmed to think that things that are “different” might be dangerous. You could imagine that 40,000 years ago humans had to discern “are you like me?” when a “no” to that question might mean the other thing was a tiger and they would be eaten.
However, human beings have become the most evolved species because of our capacity for adapting. We are social animals who are incredibly good at adapting to different situations. If our society affirms that being racist is no longer socially acceptable behavior, I believe we’ll see rates of racism go down as people adapt to the new norm. That’s why companies have so much power and responsibility to provide a fair environment. If sexual harassment and racism are clearly not tolerated at the institutional level, then people will adapt to that norm. There is a new theory called the “bias of crowds” model that essentially says the given environment we find ourselves in may have greater influence over our biases than our individual-level beliefs.
