Diversity

Diversity refers to all facets of variability found in nature and throughout society. Some features of human diversity are genetically predetermined, some are socially constructed, and still others derive from both biology and culture.

Diversity plays a dynamic and critical role in the development of individual and group identities. Among the sources of identity most often associated with diversity are an individual's or group's race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender, age, socioeconomic status, geographic background, job or profession, physical capacities and limitations, age, communal memberships, character traits, types of intelligence and native abilities, interests, values, and beliefs.

One of the key elements of personal and group identity in each of these categories is a sense of belonging and of connection with others. To the extent that an individual is seen by group insiders as embodying the attributes or traits associated with a racial, ethnic, gender, ideological, religious, or socioeconomic group, for instance, she or he is able to belong.

Identity formation is a complex and dynamic process; answers to the question “Who am I?” evolve from diverse relationships, exposures, education, and other defining experiences throughout an individual's life. Similarly, insider and outsider status is often dynamic and fluid. For example, through education, entrepreneurship, and other vehicles of social mobility, individuals and groups in many parts of the world “move” from one socioeconomic class identity to another.

Related is the process of attribution. To attribute is to assign an identity label to oneself or others. Attributions “mark” an individual's apparent membership in an ethnic group, a socioeconomic class, gender, or other type of affiliation. When an outsider to an ethnic group perceives physical markers of group membership on a stranger, for instance, she or he may be inclined to attribute group affiliation to the individual. In the face of diversity, stereotypes and related presuppositions often accompany such attributions.

Research reveals, however, that human variability within groups is as complex and dynamic as diversity across groups. For example, in many communities, an individual's identity as a woman significantly influences how she is perceived within the community. Her standpoint —including her role, place, purpose, how she is perceived by others, status, station, and power within the community—is shaped accordingly. In this sense, all women within a community share some elements of standpoint.

And yet, every woman within and outside a given community is different from every other. Even identical female twins raised by the same parents within a shared home environment have unique experiences that, in turn, help to shape their individual perceptual frames. Indeed, no two people in the world share all the myriad factors shaping individual identity—from genetics to personal experience, from perceptions to beliefs, from longings and desires to interests. Nor, as noted earlier, are these factors stable. Each person is a unique, dynamic, evolving constellation of desires, hopes, dreams, abilities, memories, connections with others, and values. Through this fluidity and diversity, each individual at any given time becomes a unique self. In this sense, diversity and change are among the most significant features of personal identity.

At the same time, however, research offers several salient generalizations about identity and diversity. Researchers have found important intersections, for example, between several key aspects of identity. Among these, perhaps the most compelling are established patterns of association between race, gender, and socioeconomic class. Within the United States, race in particular has been found to be a significant factor in predicting individual wealth. Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres note that ongoing disparities in wealth along racial lines reflect patterns of discrimination within a complex network of relations, such as within the housing sector, educational opportunities, access to financial institutions and capital, relations with police and public authorities, and exposure to crime. These and related findings suggest that one cannot reliably separate socioeconomic class and race.

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