Alle colleges Diversity 2 SS4S

DIVERSITY 2 LECTURE NOTES
LECTURE 1 - TURNING DIVERSITY INTO POLICY

Article Anne van Ewijk
An analytical framework for diversity policies
- The what (coming up with what diversity is)
- The why (motivation or intention for diversity)
- The how (thinking about the particular diversity policy, the how)

Diversity  no universal definition, it is highly context dependent.
 You can’t come up with a conceptualization.
o Diversity policy  focused effort of an organization/government to reach
certain policy objectives.
o It needs to be changed in something practical.

The What
Modes of differentiation: principles by which people, from context to context, situation to
situation, mark themselves and each other as different.
- Some type of selection, or reduction.
o Speaking red shirt: these are also differentiation, but are they relevant?
o More than just difference.

Social categories approach: gender, skin, class, income, education and so forth. More like
the moral arguments, social justice.
Management approach: lifestyle, perspectives, political opinion, thinking types, personality
type and so forth. More accessible for other communities.

Diversity is always a form of selection!

The Why
Motivations/arguments for a policy.




Collective: more a group approach. Differences can be used in the benefits.
Individual for just individuals.

Moral: equal opportunity approach
Practical: more like a business case, opportunities for the corporation.

,Desired base of difference: individuals
Moral arguments:
- Group-focus denies agency of individuals and strengthens stereotypes
- Detrimental to individual freedom, groups don’t exist. Going against the celebration
of differences. It can also lead to tensions and problems.

Practical arguments
- Group-boundaries do not exist, individuals have multiple identities
- Focus on groups blocks the creation of mutual understanding
- Advantages of a collective focus have not been tested properly in empirical research
- Diversification may in fact create institutional tensions rather than increase
productivity

Desired base of difference: collective
Moral arguments:
- Recognizing groups is essential for individual freedom
- Ignoring groups means ignoring discrimination; an individual approach may not
actually deliver change

Practical arguments
- Groups are an inevitable aspect of modern social processes
- Group-focus is the only way for marginalized individuals to gain visibility and power
- Arguments from management theory: optimal use of skills, making products or
services more attractive to diverse customers, accessing international markets,
avoiding the costs of racial discrimination, and improving the image of the company
in the eyes of potential investors.
o A lot of organizations want diverse groups, not only for moral arguments but
because the corporation benefits from it.

Not just a definitional matter…
- Important consequences
o Claims, rights, budgets
o Means, policies, outcomes
- With real-life dimensions
o Who is treated how? Who gets what?

It is impossible to come up with a single definition for diversity.

Essed and the 4Dmodel
Cultural cloning and tokenism
Cultural cloning: predicated on the taken-for-granted desirability of certain types, the often-
unconscious tendency to comply with normative standards, the easiness with the familiar
and the subsequent rejection of those who are perceived as deviant.
- Shifting to sameness and homogeneity in organizations. Being included: to what
price?
- Can be applied to identity markers. It is about inclusion.

,What do they expect from their newcomers?
- Who is excluded and included?

The 4D-model:
- Deficit: the deficit paradigm as a stream of thinking, focuses on what are considered
development gaps between the dominant group—the norm group)—on the one
hand, and on the other hand, norms, values, and traditions among ethnic minority
groups: language, levels of education, labor market skills, cultural capital.
o There are dominant groups which form the norm. There is also a marginalized
group who lacks something. Taking the norm for granted and only focusing on
newcomers. Marginalized group isn’t seen as normal.
- Difference: cultural difference is seen as a potential source of conflict as well as a
source of enrichment. Difference is aligned with minority groups. Overlook this in
organizations (intention of this paradigm)!
- Discrimination: the third D, identifies as a central problem the structural exclusion of
those perceived as "different". Explaining the differences between groups.
- Diversity: paradigm shift, a new focus on the complete and inclusive organization.
Holistic notion, all the visions and apartments of the organization! Not just a diversity
apartment. Integrated whole in the organization!

She is critical of this notion of inclusion and managing diversity approach. Can’t this lead to
homogeneity in the work-environment? She is also unsure about the business purpose about
managing diversity. It is an open-ended question.

Tokenism
- Unwanted effect of diversity management.
o The policy or practice of making a perfunctory gesture toward the inclusion of
members of minority groups to create a false appearance of inclusiveness.
o Recreation of homogeneity with inclusion.
 Also visible in film  South Park, the black guy is called Token.
 Netflix is breaking these stereotypes; they are trying to do it.

Applying our concepts
Which one is right?




Conclusion
- When designing a policy, fundamental choices have to be made concerning the what,
the why and they how of diversity
- These choices have their own set of unwanted outcomes, such as tokenism,
stigmatization or cultural determinism.

, - In our analysis of diversity matters we can use the 4D model:
o Deficit, difference, discrimination and diversity.
- Cultural cloning can lead to inclusion without dismantling unequal and unjust
structures within organizations, institutions or society

LECTURE 2 – DIVERSITY WITHIN THE POLICE
NORM IMAGE
- Controlling our insides and outsides.
o They have to comply to norms (when you’re new in the company). The labels
are normative and moral.
o The mechanism that influences social situations, person, relationships and the
surrounding.
 Norm images or ideals images say what is normal, what should be,
what is ‘ordinary’ and what is a certain ideal.

Norm image
 Somatic
o The complex of physical characteristics which are accepted by a group as its
norm and ideal
 Skin color, gender, weight, hair, tattoos, piercings, head scarf
 Cultural
o Normative demands and conventions regarding day to day behavior
(language skills, flexibility, free of moral ties)

Supercop
- Dutch speaking
- Witty
- Rational
- Neutral
- Communicative
- Flexible
- Prevalence
- Free of moral ties
 Important to be a policeman

The gendered supercop
 It is assumed that the categories are neutral.
o But we also looking for people who want to help
 Interesting division of labor: things connected to males and females.
Stereotypes are strongly there.

Woman: calming effect, man absorbing the blows.

Police
Depicted as a domain where quick decisions have to be taken. This is a very limited view.
Also, very boring tasks. LECD said they are looking for nurture values of women. Feminine
things are so stereotyped here. Diversity approach of the business case.