Social Norm Bias: Residual Harms of Fairness-Aware Algorithms

Many modern learning algorithms mitigate bias by enforcing fairness across coarsely-defined groups related to a sensitive attribute like gender or race. However, the same algorithms seldom account for the within-group biases that arise due to the heterogeneity of group members. In this work, we characterize Social Norm Bias (SNoB), a subtle but consequential type of discrimination that may be exhibited by automated decision-making systems, even when these systems achieve group fairness objectives. We study this issue through the lens of gender bias in occupation classification from biographies. We quantify SNoB by measuring how an algorithm's predictions are associated with conformity to gender norms, which is measured using a machine learning approach. This framework reveals that for classification tasks related to male-dominated occupations, fairness-aware classifiers favor biographies written in ways that align with masculine gender norms. We compare SNoB across fairness intervention techniques and show that post-processing interventions do not mitigate this type of bias at all.