March 3, 2025 • 14 mins
Podcast Description: Double Standards – Why Fairness Is Just an Illusion
Have you ever noticed how some people get away with things that others are punished for? In this episode, we break down the reality of double standards—why they exist, who benefits from them, and how they shape our society.
From Orwell’s warnings about language manipulation to Foucault’s insights on institutional power, we explore how double standards aren’t just about hypocrisy but serve to maintain hierarchies. We also examine psychological biases like cognitive dissonance and fundamental attribution error, showing how our minds justify unfair treatment.
Plus, we tackle real-world examples—from media bias and gender expectations to justice system inequalities—and discuss how we can challenge these contradictions.
you can find the full transcript here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I love everybody.
(00:21):
Welcome to another podcast.
I appreciate listening to the previous podcasts and of course, comment on the podcast.
That means a lot for the podcast and of course, for the podcast to grow, I need your feedback.
If you have any comments or anything related to the podcast, anything you disagree with
in the podcast, you can comment in Spotify or whatever platform you listen to podcasting.
(00:42):
Okay?
Before we dive in, let's define some keywords.
Hierarchy.
A system in which people or groups are ranked above others based on the status or authority.
Examples, in many workplaces, the corporate hierarchy ensures the executives have more
decision power than the employees.
(01:04):
Systemic.
Deeply embedded within and affecting an entire system rather than being an isolated issue.
Example, systemic racism does not affect just individuals, but it is built in into laws,
politics and institutions.
Cognitive decency.
It is the mental discomfort experienced when holding conflicting beliefs or values.
(01:34):
Examples a smoker who knows smoking causes cancer, but continues to smoke, experiencing
this cognitive decency.
Institutionalization.
It is the process of embedding a practice or a norm within a society's laws, organization
or culture.
Example, gender rules have been institutionalized for centuries, influencing expectations about
(01:57):
men's and women's behavior.
Oppression.
The prolonged and adjusted exercise of power over a group or individuals.
Example, the history of colonial oppression left lasting economic and political challenges
in many former colonies.
Bias, a preference or inclination that prevents impartial judgment.
(02:21):
Examples, news channels often show bias by reporting stories in a way that favors one
political party over another.
Fundamental attribution error.
A psychological tendency to attribute others' actions to their character, while attributing
our own to external circumstances.
Examples, when Sarah was late, her co-workers assumed she was irresponsible, but when he
(02:46):
was late, he blamed the traffic, showing fundamental attribution error.
Reinforce, to strengthen or support an idea, belief or behavior.
Examples, the constant praise from his teachers reinforce his belief that he was a talented
student.
Desonance.
A lack of harmony or agreement, especially between ideas or beliefs.
(03:10):
Example, there was a noticeable desonance between the company's public commitment to
sustainability and its actual environmental practices.
Remorse.
A deep regret or guilt for wrongdoing.
Example, the criminal showed no remorse for his actions, which influenced the judge's
(03:31):
decisions to give the harsher sentence.
Intervention.
The act of stepping in to influence or change a situation, often forcefully.
Example, military intervention in foreign conflicts is often justified as a peacekeeping
effort.
(03:52):
Exploitation.
The unfair use of people or resources for one's own benefit.
Example, the exploitation of factory workers in developing countries remain a major human
rights issue.
Transparency.
Openness and honesty, especially in governance or decision-making.
(04:13):
Example the lack of transparency in political funding makes it difficult to know who is
influencing politics.
Disparity.
A great difference in conditions, treatment or opportunities between groups.
Examples, the income disparity between the richest and the poorest citizens continues
to widen.
(04:33):
All right, that's it for the definitions.
Try to repeat the podcast so that you can repeat these definitions.
I know most of you, when you listen to podcasts, you're not really 100% focused.
What you can do is repeat the podcast and repeat these definitions so that you can remember
(04:53):
them.
Remember, it's the repetition, context and use that you would remember these words.
Today we are diving deep into something we all encounter but often struggle to pinpoint.
It is double standards.
Why do they exist?
Who benefits from them?
And what can thinkers teach us about their role in society?
(05:14):
But before we dive in, let me ask you this.
Have you ever seen someone get away with something others might be punished for?
Ever wondered why the rules don't seem to apply equally?
Well, today we're breaking it all down.
So what are double standards?
Let's start with a simple definition.
A double standard occurs when the same principle applied inconsistently thieve in one group
(05:36):
while disadvantage in another.
It's not just about hypocrisy.
It is about power.
Double standards aren't mistakes.
These serve a function.
They maintain hierarchies, justify privilege and also manipulate perception.
After this, a student turns in late assignments and gets punished or penalized while the professor
(05:59):
postponing grades without consequences.
Or in the workplace, an employee is reprimanded for being late while the higher-up consistently
arrives late with no issues.
These double standards aren't just unfair, they are systemic.
So what can literature tell us about double standards?
(06:20):
For George Orwell, he understood the power of language.
He mentioned that it shapes reality.
There is a quote from Animal Farms, a political satire or an allegory,
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
This quote captures how those in power rewrite rules to their advantage.
(06:42):
It's not just unfair, it is a deliberate tool of control.
In 1984, Orwell introduced doublethink, the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs
at the same time.
Take a real-world example.
Countries that criticize dictatorship while supporting oppressive regimes when it serves
their interests.
(07:03):
Or companies that claim to support environmental causes while dumping toxic waste.
Governments and corporations use language to obscure double standards.
Orwell would use phrases like Collateral Damage instead of Civilian Debt,
or Enhanced Interrogation instead of Torture.
Orwell warned us about this.
(07:25):
He said if you control the language, you control the perception.
Michel Foucault took this idea even further, by looking at how power operates through institutions,
laws, education, and social norms.
In Discipline and Punish, he explores how punishment is applied differently based on
social status.
Let's look at modern policing.
(07:48):
A wealthy person convinced of fraud might get probation, while someone in poverty gets
years in prison for a non-violent crime.
Or take the media.
A protest in one country is framed as a fight for democracy, while a similar protest elsewhere
is called violent unrest.
What Foucault is trying to say here is that double standards are not just inconsistencies.
(08:11):
They are duly embedded in institutions to reinforce existing power structures.
In The Seamlight, Franz Fanon, in The Wretched of the Earth, examined how colonial powers
justify repression through double standards.
Colonizers claim to bring civilization, while engaging in brutal exploration.
(08:32):
Think about how countries justify military interventions.
Think about how countries justify military interventions and they're the banner of
peacekeeping, while condemning similar actions by others as aggression.
Fanon argued that double standards create psychological conditioning, convincing the
oppressed that their suffering is natural or deserved.
(08:56):
A modern example of this is the way the global economy treats different nations.
Developing countries are expected to follow strict economic policies, while powerful nations
violate the same rules without any consequences.
Psychologists also weighed in on this issue by studying cognitive biases that contribute
to double standards.
(09:17):
Leon Fessinger, for example, introduced cognitive dissonance.
It is a mental discomfort that we feel when holding contradictory beliefs.
People resolve this conflict by justifying unfair treatment.
Take an experiment by John Darley and Pettit Grass.
Participants were shown two videos of a young girl named Hannah.
(09:37):
In one, in one she was from a wealthy background, in the other from a lower income background.
When asked to assess her academic ability, participants who saw the wealthy virgin rated
her higher, even though both groups watched the same test footage.
This reveals how societal biases create double standards.
Another relevant concept to this is the fundamental attribution error.
(10:01):
It basically is when we judge others harshly for their mistakes, but we excuse ourselves.
For example, if someone else is late, we assume they're responsible.
But if we're late, on the other hand, we blame traffic.
This bias also fuels double standards in social judgments.
But of course, not everybody agrees that double standards are real.
(10:23):
Some argue that what we perceive as unfair treatment is often a result of context, not
a bias.
Jordan Peterson, for instance, argues that different outcomes in society are often due
to personal choice and individual differences, not systemic injustice.
Others suggest that people selectively notice double standards that disadvantage them while
(10:46):
ignoring those that work in their favor.
Some evolutionary psychologists argue that perceived double standards are often byproducts
of social structures that evolve for efficiency rather than fairness.
For example, different gender rules historically developed based on survival needs, not discrimination.
(11:07):
There are also legal scholars who claim that laws don't actually enforce double standards,
but are just interpreted differently based on circumstance.
A judge giving different sentences to two people who committed the same crime might
be considered background from worse or risk to society rather than applying an inconsistent
rule.
So, are double standards real?
(11:29):
Or do we selectively apply this label when it suits us?
This is something worth thinking about.
Now, let's bring this into sharper focus with some everyday double standards.
For the most part, celebrities or politicians can make controversial statements and get
defended as expressing their opinion, but ordinary people lose their jobs for less.
It's under their expectations.
(11:50):
A woman being assertive is seen as difficult, while a man doing the same is seen as strong-willed.
Media coverage A crime committed by a wealthy individual is
a moment of poor judgment.
The same crime committed by a lower-class person is seen as dangerous criminal behavior.
Workplace behavior Employees, for example, are expected to work
(12:11):
long hours and stay productive, but CEOs can take long vacations with no repercussions.
Recognizing standards A father who works late is seen as dedicated,
but a mother who works late is seen as neglecting her children.
Double standards shape how we perceive justice, morality, and success, and once we recognize
(12:31):
them, only then we begin to challenge them.
But what can we do as individuals?
First, awareness.
Recognizing double standards is a fair step to dismantling them.
Second, language. Be critical of the words used to justify unfairness, or we'll show
thus that those in power control narratives, so we must question them.
(12:54):
Third, accountability.
Call out inconsistencies.
Demand transparency in politics, media, and workplace.
Fourth, psychological resistance.
Be aware of psychological biases, like cognitive dissonance or attribution biases.
Within yourself, challenge your own assumptions.
Last, education.
(13:15):
Educate yourself about social psychology, institutional power, power, and more to be
better equipped whenever you want to have a conversation with someone.
So double standards aren't just about unfairness.
They shape our reality, or well, Foucault, Fanon, and modern psychology show us that
these contradictions are designed to reinforce power structures.
(13:36):
But once we see them, we can resist them.
So that was it for today everybody.
Thank you so much for listening.
See you next time.
Bye.
I love everybody.
(00:21):
Welcome to another podcast.
I appreciate listening to the previous podcasts and of course, comment on the podcast.
That means a lot for the podcast and of course, for the podcast to grow, I need your feedback.
If you have any comments or anything related to the podcast, anything you disagree with
in the podcast, you can comment in Spotify or whatever platform you listen to podcasting.
(00:42):
Okay?
Before we dive in, let's define some keywords.
Hierarchy.
A system in which people or groups are ranked above others based on the status or authority.
Examples, in many workplaces, the corporate hierarchy ensures the executives have more
decision power than the employees.
(01:04):
Systemic.
Deeply embedded within and affecting an entire system rather than being an isolated issue.
Example, systemic racism does not affect just individuals, but it is built in into laws,
politics and institutions.
Cognitive decency.
It is the mental discomfort experienced when holding conflicting beliefs or values.
(01:34):
Examples a smoker who knows smoking causes cancer, but continues to smoke, experiencing
this cognitive decency.
Institutionalization.
It is the process of embedding a practice or a norm within a society's laws, organization
or culture.
Example, gender rules have been institutionalized for centuries, influencing expectations about
(01:57):
men's and women's behavior.
Oppression.
The prolonged and adjusted exercise of power over a group or individuals.
Example, the history of colonial oppression left lasting economic and political challenges
in many former colonies.
Bias, a preference or inclination that prevents impartial judgment.
(02:21):
Examples, news channels often show bias by reporting stories in a way that favors one
political party over another.
Fundamental attribution error.
A psychological tendency to attribute others' actions to their character, while attributing
our own to external circumstances.
Examples, when Sarah was late, her co-workers assumed she was irresponsible, but when he
(02:46):
was late, he blamed the traffic, showing fundamental attribution error.
Reinforce, to strengthen or support an idea, belief or behavior.
Examples, the constant praise from his teachers reinforce his belief that he was a talented
student.
Desonance.
A lack of harmony or agreement, especially between ideas or beliefs.
(03:10):
Example, there was a noticeable desonance between the company's public commitment to
sustainability and its actual environmental practices.
Remorse.
A deep regret or guilt for wrongdoing.
Example, the criminal showed no remorse for his actions, which influenced the judge's
(03:31):
decisions to give the harsher sentence.
Intervention.
The act of stepping in to influence or change a situation, often forcefully.
Example, military intervention in foreign conflicts is often justified as a peacekeeping
effort.
(03:52):
Exploitation.
The unfair use of people or resources for one's own benefit.
Example, the exploitation of factory workers in developing countries remain a major human
rights issue.
Transparency.
Openness and honesty, especially in governance or decision-making.
(04:13):
Example the lack of transparency in political funding makes it difficult to know who is
influencing politics.
Disparity.
A great difference in conditions, treatment or opportunities between groups.
Examples, the income disparity between the richest and the poorest citizens continues
to widen.
(04:33):
All right, that's it for the definitions.
Try to repeat the podcast so that you can repeat these definitions.
I know most of you, when you listen to podcasts, you're not really 100% focused.
What you can do is repeat the podcast and repeat these definitions so that you can remember
(04:53):
them.
Remember, it's the repetition, context and use that you would remember these words.
Today we are diving deep into something we all encounter but often struggle to pinpoint.
It is double standards.
Why do they exist?
Who benefits from them?
And what can thinkers teach us about their role in society?
(05:14):
But before we dive in, let me ask you this.
Have you ever seen someone get away with something others might be punished for?
Ever wondered why the rules don't seem to apply equally?
Well, today we're breaking it all down.
So what are double standards?
Let's start with a simple definition.
A double standard occurs when the same principle applied inconsistently thieve in one group
(05:36):
while disadvantage in another.
It's not just about hypocrisy.
It is about power.
Double standards aren't mistakes.
These serve a function.
They maintain hierarchies, justify privilege and also manipulate perception.
After this, a student turns in late assignments and gets punished or penalized while the professor
(05:59):
postponing grades without consequences.
Or in the workplace, an employee is reprimanded for being late while the higher-up consistently
arrives late with no issues.
These double standards aren't just unfair, they are systemic.
So what can literature tell us about double standards?
(06:20):
For George Orwell, he understood the power of language.
He mentioned that it shapes reality.
There is a quote from Animal Farms, a political satire or an allegory,
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
This quote captures how those in power rewrite rules to their advantage.
(06:42):
It's not just unfair, it is a deliberate tool of control.
In 1984, Orwell introduced doublethink, the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs
at the same time.
Take a real-world example.
Countries that criticize dictatorship while supporting oppressive regimes when it serves
their interests.
(07:03):
Or companies that claim to support environmental causes while dumping toxic waste.
Governments and corporations use language to obscure double standards.
Orwell would use phrases like Collateral Damage instead of Civilian Debt,
or Enhanced Interrogation instead of Torture.
Orwell warned us about this.
(07:25):
He said if you control the language, you control the perception.
Michel Foucault took this idea even further, by looking at how power operates through institutions,
laws, education, and social norms.
In Discipline and Punish, he explores how punishment is applied differently based on
social status.
Let's look at modern policing.
(07:48):
A wealthy person convinced of fraud might get probation, while someone in poverty gets
years in prison for a non-violent crime.
Or take the media.
A protest in one country is framed as a fight for democracy, while a similar protest elsewhere
is called violent unrest.
What Foucault is trying to say here is that double standards are not just inconsistencies.
(08:11):
They are duly embedded in institutions to reinforce existing power structures.
In The Seamlight, Franz Fanon, in The Wretched of the Earth, examined how colonial powers
justify repression through double standards.
Colonizers claim to bring civilization, while engaging in brutal exploration.
(08:32):
Think about how countries justify military interventions.
Think about how countries justify military interventions and they're the banner of
peacekeeping, while condemning similar actions by others as aggression.
Fanon argued that double standards create psychological conditioning, convincing the
oppressed that their suffering is natural or deserved.
(08:56):
A modern example of this is the way the global economy treats different nations.
Developing countries are expected to follow strict economic policies, while powerful nations
violate the same rules without any consequences.
Psychologists also weighed in on this issue by studying cognitive biases that contribute
to double standards.
(09:17):
Leon Fessinger, for example, introduced cognitive dissonance.
It is a mental discomfort that we feel when holding contradictory beliefs.
People resolve this conflict by justifying unfair treatment.
Take an experiment by John Darley and Pettit Grass.
Participants were shown two videos of a young girl named Hannah.
(09:37):
In one, in one she was from a wealthy background, in the other from a lower income background.
When asked to assess her academic ability, participants who saw the wealthy virgin rated
her higher, even though both groups watched the same test footage.
This reveals how societal biases create double standards.
Another relevant concept to this is the fundamental attribution error.
(10:01):
It basically is when we judge others harshly for their mistakes, but we excuse ourselves.
For example, if someone else is late, we assume they're responsible.
But if we're late, on the other hand, we blame traffic.
This bias also fuels double standards in social judgments.
But of course, not everybody agrees that double standards are real.
(10:23):
Some argue that what we perceive as unfair treatment is often a result of context, not
a bias.
Jordan Peterson, for instance, argues that different outcomes in society are often due
to personal choice and individual differences, not systemic injustice.
Others suggest that people selectively notice double standards that disadvantage them while
(10:46):
ignoring those that work in their favor.
Some evolutionary psychologists argue that perceived double standards are often byproducts
of social structures that evolve for efficiency rather than fairness.
For example, different gender rules historically developed based on survival needs, not discrimination.
(11:07):
There are also legal scholars who claim that laws don't actually enforce double standards,
but are just interpreted differently based on circumstance.
A judge giving different sentences to two people who committed the same crime might
be considered background from worse or risk to society rather than applying an inconsistent
rule.
So, are double standards real?
(11:29):
Or do we selectively apply this label when it suits us?
This is something worth thinking about.
Now, let's bring this into sharper focus with some everyday double standards.
For the most part, celebrities or politicians can make controversial statements and get
defended as expressing their opinion, but ordinary people lose their jobs for less.
It's under their expectations.
(11:50):
A woman being assertive is seen as difficult, while a man doing the same is seen as strong-willed.
Media coverage A crime committed by a wealthy individual is
a moment of poor judgment.
The same crime committed by a lower-class person is seen as dangerous criminal behavior.
Workplace behavior Employees, for example, are expected to work
(12:11):
long hours and stay productive, but CEOs can take long vacations with no repercussions.
Recognizing standards A father who works late is seen as dedicated,
but a mother who works late is seen as neglecting her children.
Double standards shape how we perceive justice, morality, and success, and once we recognize
(12:31):
them, only then we begin to challenge them.
But what can we do as individuals?
First, awareness.
Recognizing double standards is a fair step to dismantling them.
Second, language. Be critical of the words used to justify unfairness, or we'll show
thus that those in power control narratives, so we must question them.
(12:54):
Third, accountability.
Call out inconsistencies.
Demand transparency in politics, media, and workplace.
Fourth, psychological resistance.
Be aware of psychological biases, like cognitive dissonance or attribution biases.
Within yourself, challenge your own assumptions.
Last, education.
(13:15):
Educate yourself about social psychology, institutional power, power, and more to be
better equipped whenever you want to have a conversation with someone.
So double standards aren't just about unfairness.
They shape our reality, or well, Foucault, Fanon, and modern psychology show us that
these contradictions are designed to reinforce power structures.
(13:36):
But once we see them, we can resist them.
So that was it for today everybody.
Thank you so much for listening.
See you next time.
Bye.
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