{"id":66493,"date":"2022-12-22T23:02:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T04:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=66493"},"modified":"2022-12-22T23:02:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T04:02:23","slug":"how-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-policies-are-becoming-a-tool-for-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-policies-are-becoming-a-tool-for-capitalism\/","title":{"rendered":"How equity, diversity and inclusion policies are becoming a tool for capitalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

In capitalistic economies like those in the West, wealth and status accumulation often drive our every endeavour.<\/p>\n

Education, skills training and social networks, among other aspects, become tools that we use in this\u00a0rat race to push ahead for our interests<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such questionable ethics seem ripe for a reassessment.<\/p>\n

I once believed equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies for government and industry could help.<\/p>\n

In 2016, while at the University of Alberta\u2019s Office of Employment Equity, I co-authored a preliminary\u00a0Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Educational Framework<\/a>. At the time, my understanding was that EDI policies were primarily a set of tools that we could use to have conversations about individual stories and backgrounds, unconscious biases and our common traits as human beings.<\/p>\n

As such, EDI conversations would mean that people\u00a0could share their concerns<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0shed prejudices<\/a>; they could feel that they were being seen and heard for who they are.<\/p>\n

My goal was to implement EDI policies to prepare future generations for \u201cdemocratic citizenship<\/a>.\u201d Increasingly, however, I am seeing a 180-degree shift in how EDI is understood and used at individual and institutional levels.<\/p>\n

Three components of EDI<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Recent employment data on\u00a0public service employees<\/a>\u00a0and large\u00a0higher-education institutions<\/a>\u00a0across Canada<\/a>\u00a0show a remarkably diverse workforce. This is an admirable achievement. But diversity shouldn\u2019t be mistaken for equity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0equity<\/em>\u00a0component of EDI policies emphasizes the need to lift up individuals. They require an equitable redistribution of institutional resources. The\u00a0inclusion<\/em>\u00a0component calls for conversations to help us learn about different ways of life.<\/p>\n

The problem is that in our capitalist economy, equity and inclusion have been sidelined. Instead, diversity \u2014 involving characteristics that include gender, race and sexual orientation \u2014 has become yet another tool to accumulate resources and social status.<\/p>\n

Take the case of contested identity claims, the \u201cpretendians<\/a>\u201d who claim to be of Indigenous heritage. In Canada and the United States, pretendians can leverage EDI policies and abuse their supposed Indigenous status to\u00a0gain employment and financial resources or capital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meantime, Indigenous people \u2014 many of whom don\u2019t have basic resources to begin with \u2014 are left behind, if not\u00a0intentionally kept back by the state<\/a>\u00a0and various institutions.<\/p>\n

In both public and private sectors,\u00a0EDI policies are seemingly falling short of creating an inclusionary workplace<\/a>. Instead of providing institution-wide opportunities for dialogue among employees to create inclusionary spaces, institutions now see the diversity component of EDI as a means of ticking boxes and improving their institutional status.<\/p>\n

Diversity becomes a ranking tool<\/strong><\/h4>\n

For example, in the case of universities, it used to be common to count the total numbers of\u00a0publications and professor-student ratio<\/a>\u00a0to rank them. Now\u00a0diversity has become an additional metric<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This means that universities are motivated to hire from marginalized groups. This helps the institutions climb in the ranks, attracts more students who might be mindful of diversity and ultimately makes the university\u00a0eligible to receive larger financial grants and donations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Again, diversity has not necessarily meant a more equitable campus community, although some certainly pursue this goal. The newly hired members of the marginalized groups often remain on the margins of these institutions.<\/p>\n

These individuals \u2014\u00a0token representations of diversity<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 help enhance the institutions\u2019 rankings while losing their own voice and identity to the very same institutions. Their\u00a0politics, stories and self-expression have to either fade<\/a>\u00a0into the institutionalized way of life at their workplace, or, to survive, they must learn not to challenge the dominant traditions.<\/p>\n

Diversity, but no equity or inclusion<\/strong><\/h4>\n

EDI initiatives now seem to be focused primarily on diversity without equity and inclusion. And diversity has become a metric of assessing achievements and rankings. It\u2019s no surprise that individuals and institutions like universities might use diversity to compete for resources and status.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the singular focus on diversity doesn\u2019t recognize an equitable redistribution of resources and an inclusionary workplace as important goals and values.<\/p>\n

Research shows that\u00a0diversity without effective communication and collaboration across groups<\/a>\u00a0results in \u201csilo\u201d scenarios. Power struggles increase as individuals team up as group members and categorize others as outsiders who must be kept from accessing resources.<\/p>\n

Using diversity for status and financial benefit is the antithesis of EDI as a tool for democratic and equitable citizenship where all voices are heard and supported. There must be a better way to promote EDI without falling into the capitalistic trap of competitions for resources and status.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Aryan Karimi is Assistant Professor, Sociology at the University of British Columbia<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In capitalistic economies like those in the West, wealth and status accumulation often drive our every endeavour. Education, skills training and social networks, among other aspects, become tools that we use in this\u00a0rat race to push ahead for our interests. Such questionable ethics seem ripe for a reassessment. I once believed equity, diversity and inclusion […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[434211],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-66493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-change","tag-questionable-ethics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow equity, diversity and inclusion policies are becoming a tool for capitalism - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-policies-are-becoming-a-tool-for-capitalism\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How equity, diversity and inclusion policies are becoming a tool for capitalism - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In capitalistic economies like those in the West, wealth and status accumulation often drive our every endeavour. 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