The demographic diversity dilemma

On May 30, 2021, I opined on the common (mis)understanding of diversity and expressed how I would try to teach my students about diversity (were I back in the classroom and feeling safe that I could have a candid, honest discussion in a class).

Back on February 1 that year, I also briefly discussed the dilemma around the concepts of inclusion, equity and diversity.

A year and half later, I want to discuss the bigger problem with the pursuit of demographic diversity, with the problem based upon two basic observations I have made over the years.

One, countries with more homogeneous demographics and culture are more likely to engage in violent conflict, esp. war, with countries less homogenous yet adjacent to their borders. Germany, Japan, Italy in the twentieth century, and Sweden a few hundred years earlier, come to mind.

Two, countries with higher levels of domestic diversity are more likely to exhibit higher levels of domestic violence, and this domestic violence goes well beyond the common use today of "domestic violence" as pertaining to within a household, with married or unmarried couples. The concept of "domestic violence" used here pertains to physical violence within the borders of the country with higher levels of demographic and cultural diversity, including but not limited to murder, rape, manslaughter, assault, and battery.

A corollary to the first observation is the lower level of domestic violence, either due to common values (positive peace) or a strong police state (negative peace), while the second observation includes the corollary that the highly demographic diverse country is less likely to go to war with their neighbors, other than as a defensive response to an attack. This second corollary is due, in part, to the lack of unity within the country that discourages a unified, multi-partisan stance towards foreign affairs. In these diverse countries, external violence will be directed on more of an ad hoc basis, often based on demographic, cultural or historic conditions with the other country.

Much as economic prosperity and growth creates outcome inequality, i.e., "inequity," demographic diversity that can produce innovation and creativity can also produce conflict.

These observations underscore the problems with defining diversity beyond the idea of demographic or cultural diversity, especially when demographics include newly defined (if not recognized) categories of demographic diversity, e.g., LGBTQ. Further, intellectual diversity is often assumed to be associated with biological and racial diversity, but the relationship between them is tenuous at best.