老司机直播

Dissecting 'diversity': New Yorker magazine highlights work of 老司机直播 sociologist

photo of football players taking a knee
Members of the San Francisco 49ers take the knee during the American national anthem over the weekend (photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images)

With race at the centre of the Take the Knee controversy, protests over police misconduct and the emboldening of white supremacists, 老司机直播 sociologist Ellen Berrey鈥檚 book on the limitations of the term 鈥渄iversity鈥 has drawn the attention of the New Yorker.

In a piece titled 鈥淭he limits of 鈥榙iversity,鈥欌 the current issue of the magazine quotes at length from Berrey鈥檚 2015 book, The Enigma of Diversity: The Language of Race and the Limits of Racial Justice

鈥淔rom an academic perspective, it feels like a peak moment of my career,鈥 the assistant professor of sociology at 老司机直播 Mississauga told 老司机直播 News.

Berrey (above) spent six years studying how a Fortune 500 company, a major American university and a Chicago neighbourhood, which prided itself on its multiracial, mixed-income demographics, tackled the concept of diversity. She argued that public acceptance of diversity hasn鈥檛 accomplished racial justice, writing a piece for Salon in 2015, titled 鈥淒iversity is for white people: The big lie behind a well-intended word.鈥 

鈥淗ere鈥檚 what I鈥檝e learned: diversity is how we talk about race when we can鈥檛 talk about race,鈥 Berrey wrote in Salon. 鈥淚t has become a stand-in when open discussion of race is too controversial or 鈥 let鈥檚 be frank 鈥 when white people find the topic of race uncomfortable. Diversity seems polite, positive, hopeful. Who is willing to say they don鈥檛 value diversity?鈥

Why the interest in her work now?  

鈥淭here鈥檚 a recurring story in the United States because there鈥檚 a recurring problem of how are we dealing with the structural problems of racism,鈥 Berrey said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 happened in the last 40 years or so is that the dialogue has shifted 鈥 when we鈥檙e talking about policies 鈥 from language that鈥檚 about remedying social problems or addressing discrimination and justice, to now we have more happy, warm, fuzzy language around diversity.鈥

She said the New Yorker article comes on the heels of the affirmative action debate in college admissions that's resurfaced south of the border. But the discussion over the term 鈥渄iversity鈥 also has implications in Canada, where the ideals of multiculturalism are debated at length.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a shift from using affirmative action to address equality to using affirmative action to achieving the benefits of diversity,鈥 Berrey says. 鈥淪o people will say that diversity is good for learning, good for profit, good for white people, and everybody wins out. But with that, we lose a more hard-hitting dissection of the problems of racism, discrimination and inequality that still persist.鈥

She recently finished another book, Rights on Trial: How Workplace Discrimination Law Perpetuates Inequality, that is also attracting interest as the Harvey Weinstein scandal unfolds. The book, which was co-authored by Robert L. Nelson and Laura Beth Nielsen, focuses on issues of employment discrimination and also explores legal cases involving sexual harassment.

One of Berrey鈥檚 current research projects investigates student anti-racism protests at both American and Canadian universities since 2012, digging deeper into the Black Lives Matter movement.

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