Backlash Against Diversity

Recent events show that resistance to civil rights progress for members of marginalized or underrepresented groups remains entrenched, and opponents of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and other steps toward improving equity have been emboldened. Organizations that are committed to diversity must prepare for the cost of defending inclusive organizations and adopt policies that make it difficult to roll back diversity gains.

Billions of dollars have been spent on the wrong solution to the complex, sensitive and emotionally charged issue of discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Companies originally invested in diversity training in order to meet Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity requirements, to reduce litigation costs, and to buy social peace. The result was often more social conflict—divisiveness, hostility, backlash, and an increase in litigation. This book offers a new, simple and effective solution to organizations that include the need to: establish, publish and enforce a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination and harassment; develop standards which define unacceptable professional workplace behaviors; and provide the relationship skills training necessary for all employees to meet the company's behavioral standards. Diversity training failed because of its focus on awareness, understanding and appreciating differences rather than teaching basic skills to help employees relate more effectively with each other regardless of their differences. Companies have the right to require professional behavior from their employees. They do not have the right to ask their employees to change ther personal values and belief systems. This book provides a blueprint for a skills-based solution to the elimination of discrimination and harassment. It emphasizes the development of professional relationship skills to help employees work more effectively with their bosses, their peers, their team members, their customers, and all those individuals different from themselves. For all business executives, leaders, managers, supervisors, human resource specialists, trainers, consultants, entrepreneurs, and employees.

"Lynch shows that the diversity machine-with its underlying ideology of ethnic-gender proportionalism, cultural relativism, and identity politics-can only foment social acrimony." -Brad Stetson, First Things "Frederick Lynch has opened up the curtain and shown how large organizations-not only universities but major corporations-have used "affirmative action" programs to create a new form of racial and gender discrimination." -Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report "Diversity" has become the turn-of-the-century buzzword. Republican and Democratic leaders ritually chant "diversity is our strength" and corporate CEOs talk about the need to create a "workforce that looks like America." Most corporate mission statements now contain a clause on "valuing differences" and millions of employees have completed-or soon will undergo-some sort of "diversity training." Where did all this come from -and why? Who created diversity programs? How do they differ? How effective are these policies? Can they do more harm than good in organizations and in the wider society? During the past decade, sociologist Frederick R. Lynch studied the rise of a social policy movement that has successfully moved multiculturalism from universities and foundations into the courts, mass media, and the American workplace. The new diversity policies are future-oriented and market-driven, eclipsing "old" affirmative action debates about overcoming past discrimination against blacks. Based on more than six years of field research and hundreds of interviews, Lynch tracks the development and impact of different forms of diversity policies at dozens of consultant gatherings, in the business and professional literature and through in-depth case studies such as the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He profiles the major consultants who have powered the diversity machine, analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of various approaches to workplace diversity and provides numerous "you-are-there" samples of workshops, seminars, and conferences. The book is written for the general reader interested in public-policy issues, social scientists, and others interested in the origins and consequences of workplace diversity policies. Frederick R. Lynch is associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. He is author of Invisible Victims: White Males and the Crisis of Affirmative Action and dozens of articles in professional journals as well as the Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily, and Commentary. He has been profiled in Forbes Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and on national newscasts and television programs.

An indispensable practical toolkit for dismantling racism in the workplace without fear Reporting and personal testimonials have exposed racism in every institution in this country. But knowing that racism exists isn’t nearly enough. Social media posts about #BlackLivesMatter are nice, but how do you push leadership towards real anti-racist action? Diversity and inclusion strategist Y-Vonne Hutchinson helps tech giants, political leaders, and Fortune 500 companies speak more productively about racism and bias and turn talk into action. In this clear and accessible guide, Hutchinson equips employees with a framework to think about race at work, prepares them to have frank and effective conversations with more powerful leaders, helps them center marginalized perspectives, and explains how to leverage power dynamics to get results while navigating backlash and gaslighting. How to Talk To Your Boss About Race is a crucial handbook to moving beyond fear to push for change. No matter how much formal power you have, you can create antiracist change at work.

Multiculturalism has been much questioned across the world in recent years. This is a comprehensive analysis of how this happened and its consequences for our societies.

A cutting-edge, relentless, objective approach to inclusion. Companies spend billions of dollars annually on diversity efforts with remarkably few results. Too often diversity efforts rest on the assumption that all that's needed is an earnest conversation about "privilege." That's not enough. To truly make progress we need to stop celebrating the problem and instead take effective steps to solve it. In Bias Interrupted, Joan C. Williams shows how it's done, and, reassuringly, how easy it is to get started. One of today's preeminent voices on inclusive workplaces, Williams explains how leaders can use standard business tools—data, metrics, and persistence—to interrupt the bias that is continually transmitted through formal systems like performance appraisals, as well as the informal systems that control access to career-enhancing opportunities. The book presents fresh evidence, based on Williams's exhaustive research and work with companies, that interrupting bias helps every group—including white men. Comprehensive, though compact and straightforward, Bias Interrupted delivers real, practical value in an efficient and accessible manner to an audience that has never needed it more. It's possible to interrupt bias. Here's where you start.

This study used a scenario design to examine whether there are different reactions among Whites based on how a diversity program is justified by an organization. A reactive justification (affirmative action) was proposed to result in greater backlash than a competitive advantage justification (diversity management). In addition, this study examined the effects of personal and group outcomes on backlash and explored two individual difference variables, gender and orientation toward other ethnic groups, as potential moderators of the proposed relationships. Backlash was operationalized in four ways: an affect-based measure (negative emotions), two cognitive-based measures (attitude toward the diversity program, perceptions of unfairness of promotion procedures), and a behavioral-intentions-based measure (organizational commitment). Results indicated that the diversity management justification was associated with more favorable support of the diversity initiative, and that unfavorable personal and group outcomes adversely affected backlash reactions. There was no empirical support for the influence of the moderator variables on the proposed relationships, however, a main effect for gender was found. Implications of the study's findings and future research directions are discussed.