The White-Centering Logic of Diversity Ideology

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (13) ◽  
pp. 1789-1809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Mayorga-Gallo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Color Blindness ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Racial Ideology ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
The Past ◽  
Color Blind Racism ◽  
Color Blind

In this article, I present a framework for diversity as a racial ideology that rearticulates the logic of civil rights. Diversity ideology is, in part, a co-optation of calls for race consciousness that challenged color blindness: it highlights race and other axes of difference to achieve a color-blind ideal of fairness where race will no longer matter. In this way, diversity ideology creates space for minor acknowledgment of structural inequality in the abstract. This is an important difference from color-blind racism, which explains inequality as a function of the past, individual “racist” bad apples, or the failings of people of color. The logic of diversity ideology is based on four tenets (diversity as acceptance, diversity as intent, diversity as commodity, and diversity as liability) that frame an amorphous diversity as the answer to racial inequality, while centering white people’s desires and feelings. These conceptualizations of diversity are devoid of power and history, which is how systemic whiteness is reinscribed.

Race, Four Farms, and a City: Color Blindness and the Austin, TX, Urban Farm Debate

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-249
Author(s):  
Deborah A. Harris ◽  
Rachel Romero
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Color Blindness ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Alternative Food Movement ◽  
Community Activists ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Austin, TX, was the site of a three-year debate between urban farmers and their supporters and local community activists about how to rewrite an outdated farm code. There was tremendous animosity between the two groups and, despite efforts at mediation, the two sides were unable to reach compromise. To understand more about how these two groups came into conflict, we interviewed 26 local stakeholders about their views and experiences during the farm code debate and found that issues of race and racial inequality were a key factor in the continuing mistrust. We found that farmers and their supporters attempted to frame the debate and its racial undertones by highlighting their racial–ethnic minority supporters, describing their businesses as reclaiming East Austin’s agricultural past, and arguing that the only issue that should matter in redrawing the farm ordinance should be how to best help farmers provide healthy food to the community. We argue that the farmers’ responses draw from a discourse of whiteness and color blindness that can be harmful to People of Color and link their views to larger critiques that the alternative food movement and individual alternative food projects can be exclusionary.

scholarly journals Do Color Blindness and Multiculturalism Remedy or Foster Discrimination and Racism?

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria C. Plaut ◽  
Kecia M. Thomas ◽  
Kyneshawau Hurd ◽  
Celina A. Romano
Keyword(s):  
Color Blindness ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Organizational Diversity ◽  
Interracial Interactions ◽  
Organizational Contexts ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Color Blind

This article offers insight from psychological science into whether models of diversity (e.g., color blindness and multiculturalism) remedy or foster discrimination and racism. First, we focus on implications of a color-blind model. Here, the literature suggests that while color blindness appeals to some individuals, it can decrease individuals’ sensitivity to racism and discrimination. Furthermore, the literature suggests that, with some exceptions, color blindness has negative implications for interracial interactions, minorities’ perceptions and outcomes, and the pursuit of diversity and inclusion in organizational contexts. Second, we examine circumstances under which a multicultural approach yields positive or negative implications for interracial interactions, organizational diversity efforts, and discrimination. The research reviewed coalesces to suggest that while multiculturalism generally has more positive implications for people of color, both models have the potential to further inequality.

scholarly journals Color-Blind Racism in Pandemic Times

2020 ◽  
pp. 233264922094102
Author(s):  
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Color Blindness ◽  
Differential Mortality ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Structural Nature ◽  
Color Blind Racism ◽  
Color Blind ◽  
Tv Shows ◽  
Magazine Articles

In this article the author examines how the frameworks of color-blind racism have influenced many topics during the pandemic. Using readily available material from popular culture (TV shows, newspaper and magazine articles, and advertisements) and from statements by government officials, the author examines how color blindness has shaped our national discussion on essential workers and heroes, charity, and differential mortality. The main argument is that color-blind racism is limiting our understanding of the structural nature of the various racial problems coronavirus disease 2019 has revealed, making it difficult to envision the kinds of policies needed to address them. the author concludes by summarizing what these ideological perspectives block from view as well as addressing the nascent discursive cracks that might be used to produce alternative frames for interpreting matters and organizing collective action.

Racialized Organizations and Color-Blind Racial Ideology in Brazil

2020 ◽  
pp. 233264922094322
Author(s):  
Ian Carrillo
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Racial Ideology ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Organizational Practices ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Racism ◽  
Color Blind

Although the relationship between organizations and structural racism is well established, less is known about how racialization occurs within organizations. Overlooking how racial ideology is imbued in organizational logic obscures the role organizations play in reproducing structural racism. The prevalence of color-blind racial ideology further complicates the study of racialization, as most societies deny the existence of racism targeting people of color. In this article the author asks, How does color-blind racial ideology guide management decisions and the rationalization of racially unequal organizational practices? Using an extended case study method, the author examines sugar-ethanol mills in Brazil, where nonwhite workers are disproportionately exposed to hazardous risks. The author argues that the racialization of organizational practices occurs through a twofold process in which white elites use nonracial discourse to rationalize unequal outcomes and to reproduce the social conditions that steer nonwhite peoples into hazardous worksites. This article makes two contributions to the literature. First, through the discursive frames of cultural racism, naturalization, victimization, and politicized markets, the author shows how the allocation of resources and opportunities at the organizational level shapes and is shaped by racialized social systems. Second, by studying unequal relations in Brazil, the author elucidates the long-standing presence of color blindness in Iberian America while also tracing similarities and differences with color-blind racism in the United States.

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