Can Diversity Solve Inequality? Looking At The Counter-Intuitive Effect Of Inclusion Efforts


Chicago is one of America’s most diverse cities.   Per census.gov, it’s racial makeup is: 33 percent whites/non-Hispanics, 30 percent black, 29 percent Hispanic and 6.4 percent Asian; making it a mecca for anyone who values a progressive environment…or not.  Because despite appearing to be the poster child of integration on paper, Chicago is quite segregated.  Thus, diversity, in communities and companies, may not be as effective at building equality as our intuition implies.    

In a FiveThirtyEight article appropriately titled “The Most Diverse Cities Are Often the Most Segregated” editor Nate Silver analyzes data indirectly based on the 2010 census.  It includes a scatterplot that measures integration by comparing diversity at the neighborhood level to that at the city level.  Further, a regression line is drawn through the points (cities): the farther a city falls below the line the more segregated it is. 

Admittedly, at first glance the data isn’t a cause for concern, given that neighborhood diversity generally increases with city diversity.  However, Silver acknowledges there’s a “curve” due to the reality that most cities fall below the integration line: cities that are diverse overall but still segregated, like Baltimore, are the norm rather than outliers.  He also notes that “Cities with substantial black populations tend to be highly segregated.” 

This disclaimer alludes to Silver’s method, which measures all segregation equally. This allows residents of a city like Sacramento to pat themselves on the back for being integrated: despite the low percent of blacks.  Indeed, when measured via the index of dissimilarity, which uses the white population as a pivot, those cities wouldn’t score as high for diversity / integration. 

Of course, the implication that diversity efforts generally result in privileged demographics segregating rather than integrating is not news.  Given, it’s ironic that discussions of race inequality relative to business and media promote diversity as the solution. 

Though data like that presented in the FiveThirtyEight article mainly pertains to residential behavior, there’s no reason to believe the conclusions don’t apply to office spaces as well.  Writer/editor Jay Caspian Kang touches on this in episode 2 of Diversity Hire, jokily stating “They put us in an actual ghetto here in the corner”: in reference to the proximity he had to the only other Asian in their office at The New Yorker.   

And rather than inadequate housing, underperforming schools or over-policing, corporate segregation instead results in low morale and/or retention among those excluded.  This notion is addressed by Tiffani Ashley Bell, founder of Human Utility, on an episode of Marketplace Tech.  In the interview she describes how a friend was let go from a company mostly, based on her review, because of the inability to mesh with the waspy culture.  And given that white-collar professionals are hardly working, such a claim sounds credible.

Additionally, in episode 25 of ChapterThirtyPodcast a host describes an incident where she and her co-workers, who were white men, were preparing for a presentation.  At some point they reassigned the sections and only made her aware before entering the room, resulting in her looking like the unprepared one in the process. 

Ultimately, these accounts served to highlight how the negative effects of segregation are just as salient in employment as in residential settings.  This post was not to convince those who prefer homogeneity to embrace integration: due to the strong correlation between whiteness, power, and the eternal validity of rational choice theory, it would be naïve of me to assume that any article can convince a group of humans to voluntarily spoil their privilege by desegregating. 

However, it’d be wise for advocates of equality to be aware that diversification may not achieve the intended goal.  Indeed, it’d be nice to have mainstream sources that make employee retention data from top companies accessible.  Despite the bell and whistles on glassdoor.com and comparably.com, I couldn’t locate such a feature.  Regardless, it’d probably do little for concrete progress, and more radical means will ultimately be needed.  But don’t take my word for it.  Stay pissed.  

References: 

Silver, Nate.  "The Most Diverse Cities Are Often The Most Segregated." https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-are-often-the-most-segregated/


         


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