How can institutionalized practices create bias that benefits some groups over others?

In the context of neoinstitutionalism, institutionalized practices create bias by embedding specific rules, scripts, and procedures into the fabric of organizations, which systematically advantage certain groups while disadvantaging others.1

These biases often function through the following mechanisms:

• Taken-for-Granted Scripts: Institutions provide individuals with habitual, "taken-for-granted" codes of behavior. Because these scripts are followed out of habit rather than explicit norms, bias can persist even without conscious intent or overt discriminatory values.1
• Legitimacy and Conformity: Organizations adopt standardized structures—such as formal hierarchies—to gain legitimacy and access resources. When these structures are inherently exclusionary, conformity to them reinforces existing inequalities.1
• Accumulated Advantage: Institutionalized practices can create long-term disparities. For example, if access to essential social services is restricted for specific groups, those groups are denied the benefits of those services, leading to a cycle where some accumulate advantages while others remain systematically disadvantaged.1
• Path Dependence: Institutions often become "locked in" to specific developmental paths. Through cognitive or structural feedback mechanisms, they may continue to operate in ways that favor established interests, making it difficult to implement change even when current practices are suboptimal or inequitable.2