Diversity: The Invention of a Concept

by Peter Wood

Book Overview

Diversity is America's newest cultural ideal. Corporations alter their recruitment and hiring policy in the name of a diverse workforce. Universities institute new admissions rules in the name of a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893554627
• ISBN13: 9781893554627
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Encounter Books
• Length: 351 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Great book that cuts against the cultural grain. . .

Professor Wood admits that, in contemporary America, only the most intrepid minds dare question diversity's exalted stature as a cultural ideal. So it should say something Wood's disregard for his own reputation that he has written this book, which assails the ideal of diversity on page by page pace. I will admit that I bought this book hoping to see just this kind of thing-to see a credible author and skilled mind slay diversity in a "public setting." Of course, it's only a public setting if more people read the book. My own antipathy toward diversity took root during my undergraduate experience at the University of Nebraska, where diversity pervaded official policy, speeches, campus news articles, and student government. Not despising diversity, I merely became irritated with its omnipresence, the way one might tire of a food group if forced to eat it at every sitting. In short, I was unaware of diversity's true malevolence before reading this book. But Wood documents diversity's self-contradictions, its empty thinking, its threat to individualism, its corrosive impact on higher education, and more. In higher education, for instance, Wood attacks race preferences for admission (carried out in the name of diversity) and notes that, at the U. of Michigan, a white applicant to law school scoring between 163-165 on the LSAT and holding a 3.25 GPA has about a 23% chance of being admitted. A minority student with the exact same academic credentials has a 99% chance. I mention this in this review so that the potential reader can get a feel for the content of this book. Of higher education, Professor Wood also points out how diversity is cleverly used as a two-faced recruitment tool. Diversity is marketed to white American teenagers, Wood says, as a way to escape the social narrowness of their high school experience-as a "romantic mingling" experience with "the other". But diversity is then marketed to minority students as an assurance that they will feel welcome at State U., where increased recruitment of students of color will offer minorities a safe haven from the crush of the predominantly white student body. Fantastic observation, because it's true, and it reveals diversity's opportunistic nature. Despite diversity's grotesque track record, Wood also realizes why diversity has maintained a near universal following in this country-it seems to command us all to be fair, helpful, open-minded, and above all, to avoid judgment of other people, other beliefs, and other ideas (is that such a good idea?). As Wood argues, despite diversity's more noble exhortations, we as neighbors, citizens, and co-workers can better achieve good will and social betterment if we set aside silly race-based distinctions and look instead at individual merit. As an example of how holistic Wood's view of diversity is, take one of the early chapters. In it, Wood draws on his experience in anthropology to relate how Americans in the 1800s and early 1900s were a

Logic and reasoning, mixed with humor.

Peter Wood's book is written in an easy-to-read, logical, and well-reasoned fashion. Before earning my master's degree last year, I attended meetings at the university's "Diversity Task Force". I must admit to using some of Peter Wood's same arguments regarding the superficiality and shallowness of the "Task Force" criteria for measuring the diversity of the student body -- It felt like I was banging my head against the wall! I sensed that my white male status was seen as subtracting from the diversity of the student body, regardless of my diverse life experiences. Maybe if I were raised by a pack of wolves? How come this makes so much sense and many other people don't see it? Thank you Peter Wood for this timely book. I wonder if the logic and science will be enough to deprogram any diversiphiles. In my experience, they are close-minded to any argument, regardless of reason, that may disrupt their delusion. I would also like to add that most of the diversiphiles I met are good people who have good intentions; however, we all know the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This book should be required reading for all people who want to improve "diversity".

Common sense amid chaos

I heard Dr. Wood speak in Washington before I purchased the book and he is as eloquent in person as he is on the page. It is difficult to discuss this matter in the public square given the emotional sensitivities in our society when one tries to talk about race, and no doubt many on the left will dismiss Dr. Wood out of hand. But he gives a reasoned, thoughtful discussion on an issue that is still very central in our lives and society - but as Dr. Wood points out, if the left weren't so focused on "diversity" we would likely be much closer to the colorblind society we all seek. An excellent and timely read!

A Challenging and Infuriating Book

My politics and Dr. Wood's are miles apart, but his book is exceptionally well-written, researched and timely (the Supreme Court will be hearing the U-M case next month). Though I disagreed with him on a nearly page by page pace, his engaging style and sincerity kept me at it. Shelby Steele is right--it really reads like a novel in places. The really surprising aspect of this erudite and on-the-face-of-it academic tome is it's humor. This is a very funny book with many laugh-out-loud passages. Wood makes us re-examine ourselves on the most passionate subject in our history with great wit and humor. That's why Diversity is head and shoulders above right wing screeds (anything by Ann Coulter, for example) it may be thrown in with--that would be a mistake. Diversity is an excellent read for unrepentant lefties like me who need to have their orthodoxy and intellectual cobwebs shaken up for review every so often. Highly recommend.

Nailing diversity

A brilliant dissection of "diversity." The quotation marks are necessary because the concept Wood is writing about--and all of AMerican higher education is obsessively talking about--has no relationship to the original meaning of the word--multiplicity and variety. "Diversity" is now a word describing schemes to manipulate people and numbers for racial and ethnic objectives. This is a book that shows how this happened. It is far from being a polemic, however. Rather, Wood, an anthopologist by trade, writes elegantly in tracing the back alleyways and intellectual boutiques through which "diversity" has passed on its way to the center stage in American life (and to a Supreme Court decision.)