Everyone has the ability to perceive someone else as different from themselves. We can almost detect instantaneously that other people differ from us in terms of gender, physical appearance, dress and behavior patterns. This is based on our social cognitive mechanism called social categorization. We recognize that a person is inherently different from us or shares certain characteristics that we possess. This fact that people are different from us in one way or another is diversity.
So why is the human mind drawn towards categorizing people? The first reason is based on the fact that the traits that everyone possesses are based on genes. Therefore, people who are genetically related are likely to have many characteristics that are similar while those that are not related will not have as many characteristics. Throughout our evolutionary history, people lived in groups comprising of people who are genetically related. This enabled them to quickly recognize strangers who were related to them and strangers who were not. This was helpful in most communities because they could identify a stranger easily hence take the right measures to protect themselves.
Another reason why humans categorize is related to diseases and parasites. This is yet another reason why our ancestors were careful with who they interact with. One group of people may have a high resistance to a certain disease or parasite while another may not be as resistant. Therefore, getting that same disease could lead to the widespread death of a group of people even though the strangers may be resistant to it. This gives another reason why our ancestors limited interacting with other people – for the purpose of protecting their own.
So how can diversity influence our modern day daily interactions? For quite a while now, unequal treatment of people whom we perceive to be different from us has been rampant. In this modern era, discrimination is a problem experienced in various aspects of life. People are discriminated upon based on their religious beliefs, race, gender, age, likes and other aspects. This happens in all sorts of places: from school to work places to just out on the streets.
There have been many reports, for instance, of people failing to get hired in a certain job just because their race is different. Moreover, in other instances, though they may get hired, they may not get paid as much as the majority race at the work place. This is racial discrimination and it fails to promote diversity at the workplace. Luckily the law prohibits this and any person who feels that they’ve been discriminated may take legal action (Wetherill et al., 1997).
There have also been many cases of gender discrimination. It is not uncommon to hear that in the majority of the jobs, women are paid less than men performing the same tasks even though they may be just as good. It is also not uncommon to find more men women in most workplaces (Midwest New Media, 2017). Traditionally, in many societies, the main role of the woman was child bearing. Therefore, a majority of times women were pregnant or taking care of babies and this hindered them from performing duties that men performed. This might have led to the society believing that women were incapable of performing the duties that men did which in turn has led to the discrimination that women experience in the modern era. Luckily, the society is becoming enlightened and shifting from that perception.
Therefore, the concept that people are different from us in one way or another is diversity. We perceive people to be different based on their genetic traits and from the historical fear that they may transmit diseases and parasites that we may not be well resistant to. Diversity has led to discrimination in our modern era based on beliefs, race, gender, age, likes and other aspects. There is racial and gender discrimination in some workplaces but luckily, discrimination is diminishing.
References
Midwest New Media. (2017). Sex / gender discrimination. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.workplacefairness.org/sexual-gender-discrimination
Wetherill, R., Jaeger, B., Mayberry, S., & Thompson, S. (1997). Discrimination in the workplace. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://courses.cs.vt.edu/professionalism/Discrimination/discrim.html
Good Evening,
I think this is an interesting post as some of the points you address are definitely points of failure in our society that needs to be fixed. You point out that diversity has led to discrimination. I think that is true because of affirmative action, like we talked about earlier in the course, and because people are deathly afraid of something different so they lash out. I am not saying affirmative action is a bad thing. I believe that society has formed a negative connotation with the act because they assume people are hired solely on their race, gender, or ethnicity. While that plays a factor in them being hired, they too have to meet qualification standards. But, ignorance, forces people to look past that fact, therefore inciting discrimination in the work place. Most people don’t think that diversity can actually create more success than failures. Different people, means different experiences, different perspectives, different insights to particular situations. The unique strength and talents people can bring may ultimately lead to success and growth in an organization, making for functional diversity (Coutts, Grumman, and Schneider, 2012). Racial and gender discrimination is still very prevalent in the work place. The only diminishing factor is that pay in some places are equal for workers performing the same duties. But, for example, as a Marine that’s a female and black, I am not always allowed the same opportunities as others even though I may out perform them in many areas. Acknowledging that there is strength in differences is something that needs to be widespread in society in order for a change to happen.
V/R,
Leana Mason
References:
Coutts, L. M., Gruman, J. A., and Schneider, F. W. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications