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When applied to social phenomena, the term ”diversity generally refers to the distribution of units of analysis (e.g., people, students, families) in a specific social environment (e.g., workplace, classroom, nation-state) along a dimension (e.g., mother tongue, social class, political orientation). Measures of levels of diversity, such as the Index of Dissimilarity, usually define the maximum level of diversity as occurring when the units of analysis (e.g., people) are distributed evenly across the social dimension (e.g., racial categories). However, it is also common for a political ideal to serve as the benchmark in the assessment of levels of diversity. An American work setting may be considered to be appropriately diverse with respect to gender, for example, if the proportion of workers who are women is comparable to the proportion of applicants who are women.
Levels of racial and ethnic diversity are a particularly important issue in many societies because race and ethnicity are strongly related to issues of power, social inequality, and access to societal resources. Low levels of racial and ethnic diversity within a nation’s major social institutions, such as its labor force, educational system, and political system, often lead to studies of discrimination and processes of exclusion, and social policies designed to redress these inequities. Diversity can also be assessed within and across physical space. This approach leads to studies of residential segregation. Studies of phenomena such as inter-religious marriages and interracial adoption highlight the presumption that the more intimate social domains such as the family are expected to be homogeneous, i.e., not diverse, along important dimensions such as race and religion.
Levels of diversity in a specific social setting are important not just because the causes may lie in social inequality, but because levels of diversity in one dimension can lead to group-specific levels of inequality in another dimension. For example, high levels of occupational segregation by sex and race (i.e., low levels of diversity within occupations) help produce sex-specific and race-specific differentials in earnings. High (or increases in) levels of diversity can also lead to interpersonal discomfort, cultural misunderstandings, and at worst, result in intergroup conflict. Groups in power may therefore seek to maintain low levels of diversity.
High levels of diversity along many social dimensions, however, can have positive social connotations. Highly diverse settings provide numerous opportunities for intergroup interactions and therefore opportunities for the clearing of misunderstandings and the dissolving of cultural barriers. In racially diverse schools, for example, children are more likely to form interracial friendships. Levels of interracial marriage are higher in geographical areas that are racially diverse. The rationale for affirmative action policies in the USA includes the presumptive positive effects of diversity on intergroup relations as well as the issue of equity of opportunity for minority group members. Highly diverse settings, by virtue of including people with a wide variety of characteristics, can also result in a more equitable representation of opinions and sharing of resources.
Bibliography:
- Blau, P. M., Blum, T. C., & Schwartz, J. E. (1982) Heterogeneity and intermarriage. American Sociological Review 47: 45-62.
- Greenberg, J. H. (1956) The measurement of linguistic diversity. Language 32: 109—15.
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