Just another point of view of someone searching for answers in the Age of Trump
After the nations first black president, we now have a white president with the whitest and malest cabinet since Ronald Reagans. His administration immediately made it a priority to deport undocumented immigrants and to deny people from certain Muslim-majority nations entry into the United States, decisions that caused tremendous blowback
What President Trump doesnt seem to have considered is that diversity doesnt just sound nice, it has tangible value. Social scientists find that homogeneous groups like his cabinet can be less creative and insightful than diverse ones. They are more prone to groupthink and less likely to question faulty assumptions
What President Trump doesnt seem to have considered is that diversity doesnt just sound nice, it has tangible value. Social scientists find that homogeneous groups like his cabinet can be less creative and insightful than diverse ones. They are more prone to groupthink and less likely to question faulty assumptions
President Trump has answered this challenge by reaching backward vowing to wall off America and invoking a whiter, more homogeneous country. This approach is likely to fail for the simple reason that much of the strength and creativity of America, and modernity generally, stems from diversity. And the answers to a host of problems we face may lie in more mixing, not less.
The point is that diversity of ones own makeup, ones experience, of groups of people solving problems, of cities and nations is linked to economic prosperity, greater scientific prowess and a fairer judicial process. If human groups represent a series of brains networked together, the more dissimilar these brains are in terms of life experience, the better the hivemind may be at thinking around any given problem.
None of which bodes well for Mr. Trumps mostly white, mostly male, extremely wealthy cabinet. Indeed, its tempting to speculate that the administrations problems so far, including its clumsy rollout of a travel ban that was mostly blocked by the courts, stem in part from its homogeneity and insularity. Better decisions might emerge from a more diverse set of minds.
In reality, cities and countries that are more diverse are more prosperous than homogeneous ones, and that often means higher wages for native-born citizens. Yet the perception that out-groups gain at in-groups' expense persists. And that view seems to be reflexive. Merely reminding whites that the Census Bureau has said the United States will be a "majority minority" country by 2042, as one Northwestern University experiment showed, increased their anti-minority bias and their preference for being around other whites. In another experiment, the reminder made whites more politically conservative as well.
Its hard to know what to do about this except to acknowledge that diversity isnt easy. Its uncomfortable. It can make people feel threatened. We promote diversity. We believe in diversity. But diversity is hard, Sophie Trawalter, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, told me.
That very difficulty, though, may be why diversity is so good for us. The pain associated with diversity can be thought of as the pain of exercise, Katherine Phillips, a senior vice dean at Columbia Business School, writes. You have to push yourself to grow your muscles.
Its hard to know what to do about this except to acknowledge that diversity isnt easy. Its uncomfortable. It can make people feel threatened. We promote diversity. We believe in diversity. But diversity is hard, Sophie Trawalter, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, told me.
That very difficulty, though, may be why diversity is so good for us. The pain associated with diversity can be thought of as the pain of exercise, Katherine Phillips, a senior vice dean at Columbia Business School, writes. You have to push yourself to grow your muscles.
Whitelash notwithstanding, were moving in that direction. More nonwhite babies are already born than white. And if multiracial people work like a vaccine against the tribalist tendencies roused by Mr. Trump, the country may be gaining immunity. Multiracials make up an estimated 7 percent of Americans, according to the Pew Research Center, and theyre predicted to grow to 20 percent by 2050.
President Trump campaigned on a narrow vision of America as a nation-state, not as a state of people from many nations. His response to the modern question How do we form our identities? is to grasp for a semi-mythical past that excludes large segments of modern America. If we believe the science on diversity, his approach to problem solving is likely suboptimal.
President Trump campaigned on a narrow vision of America as a nation-state, not as a state of people from many nations. His response to the modern question How do we form our identities? is to grasp for a semi-mythical past that excludes large segments of modern America. If we believe the science on diversity, his approach to problem solving is likely suboptimal.