scholarly journals The Economization of Diversity

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-485
Author(s):  
James M. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Ideology ◽  
Economic Values ◽  
Affective Labor ◽  
Flagship University ◽  
Diversity Discourse ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Diversity Metrics

Through a case study of an ongoing diversity initiative at Diversity University (DU), a public, flagship university in the U.S. South, the author’s research advances understanding of the discursive relationship between neoliberalism and contemporary racial ideology. As part of a larger ethnographic project, the author draws on more than ten years worth of diversity discourse at DU to illuminate diversity’s economization: the process whereby specific formations of economic values, practices, and metrics are extended toward diversity as justification for DU’s efforts. The analysis responds to three questions: (1) How is diversity economized by the organization? (2) How is this economization articulated through organizational discourse on diversity? and (3) How does the economization of diversity potentially reconfigure race and racial subjectivities? The findings reveal three interrelated processes that facilitate diversity’s economization: diversity as investment, diversity metrics, and diversity as affective labor. Together these processes congeal and convert multicultural principles and practices into economic ones. Consequently, diversity’s economization recasts nonwhite racial subjectivity as human capital for DU and its white publics, minimizing and entrenching existing racial inequality in the process.

scholarly journals The Economization of Diversity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Ideology ◽  
Us South ◽  
Affective Labor ◽  
The Us ◽  
Flagship University ◽  
Diversity Discourse ◽  
Diversity Metrics

Through a case study of an ongoing diversity initiative at Diversity University (DU), a public, flagship university in the US South, this research advances our understanding of the discursive relationship between neoliberalism and contemporary racial ideology. As part of a larger ethnographic project, I draw upon over ten years worth of diversity discourse at DU to illuminate diversity’s economization: the process whereby specific formations of economic values, practices, and metrics are extended toward diversity as justification for DU’s efforts. My analysis responds to three questions: (1) how is diversity economized by the organization; (2) how is this economization articulated through organizational discourse on diversity; and (3) how does the economization of diversity potentially reconfigure race and racial subjectivities? My findings reveal three interrelated processes that facilitate diversity’s: diversity-as-investment, diversity metrics, and diversity-as-affective labor. Together these processes congeal and convert multicultural principles and practices into economic ones. Consequently diversity’s economization recasts nonwhite racial subjectivity as human capital for DU and its white publics, minimizing and entrenching existing racial inequality in the process.

scholarly journals Diversity Regimes and Racial Inequality: A Case Study of Diversity University

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Flagship University ◽  
Underlying Processes

Despite record investment in diversity infrastructure, racial inequality persists in higher education. This article examines, through a case study of diversity’s articulation process, how diversity is defined, organized, and implemented within an American public flagship university. My findings reveal what I characterize as a diversity regime: a set of meanings and practices that institutionalizes a benign commitment to diversity, and in doing so obscures, entrenches, and even intensifies existing racial inequality by failing to make fundamental changes in how power, resources, and opportunities are distributed. My concept of a diversity regime helps explain how and why organizational commitments to multiculturalism and diversity often fall short in practice. The concept of a diversity regime also helps us better understand the underlying processes that perpetuate racial inequality.

scholarly journals Diversity Regimes and Racial Inequality: A Case Study of Diversity University

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Flagship University ◽  
Underlying Processes

Despite record investment in diversity infrastructure, racial inequality persists in higher education. This article examines, through a case study of diversity’s articulation process, how diversity is defined, organized, and implemented within an American public flagship university. My findings reveal what I characterize as a diversity regime: a set of meanings and practices thatinstitutionalizes a benign commitment to diversity, and in doing so obscures, entrenches, and even intensifies existing racial inequality by failing to make fundamental changes in how power, resources, and opportunities are distributed. My concept of a diversity regime helps explain how and why organizational commitments to multiculturalism and diversity often fall short in practice. The concept of a diversity regime also helps us better understand the underlying processes that perpetuate racial inequality.

Mismatch Between Education and Occupation: A Case Study of Pakistani Graduates.

2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (4II) ◽  
pp. 531-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shujaat Farooq
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Keywords Education ◽  
Job Mismatch

In this study, an attempt has been made to estimate the incidences of job mismatch in Pakistan. The study has divided the job mismatch into three categories; education-job mismatch, qualification mismatch and field of study and job mismatch. Both the primary and secondary datasets have been used in which the formal sector employed graduates have been targeted. This study has measured the education-job mismatch by three approaches and found that about one-third of the graduates are facing education-job mismatch. In similar, more than one-fourth of the graduates are mismatched in qualification, about half of them are over-qualified and the half are under-qualified. The analysis also shows that 11.3 percent of the graduates have irrelevant and 13.8 percent have slightly relevant jobs to their studied field of disciplines. Our analysis shows that women are more likely than men to be mismatched in field of study. JEL classification: I23, I24, J21, J24 Keywords: Education and Inequality, Higher Education, Human Capital, Labour Market

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