ENGAGING DIVERSTY
Its Importance for
21st Century Education
Patricia Gurin
University of Michigan
2013
Patricia Gurin | University of Michigan
GOALS FOR TODAY
• Setting the context: Engaging diversity difficult
because it involves talking about race and other
social divides
•Make a case for the educational importance of
engaging diversity – a case based in three major
challenges the U.S. faces
• Present intergroup dialogue as one educational
approach that addresses these challenges
•Discuss 21st education – cosmopolitan and
outward oriented
THE CONTEXT: TALKING ACROSS
DIFFERENCES
• Talking about race – talking across race.
• Talking about any social divide – across that
social divide
INTERACTIONS INVOLVING RACE AND
ETHNICITY
For whites
• concerns about being
prejudiced
• anxiety
• depleted executive functioning
• increased cardiovascular
reactivity
• nervous behaviors
For racial/ethnic minorities
• concerns about being the
target of prejudice
• Invoke compensatory
strategies
• Negative emotions
• Feeling inauthentic
(Blascovich, Mendes, Hunter, Lickel, & Kowai-Bell, 2001; Dovidio, Kawakami, Johnson, Johnson & Howard, 1997; Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams,
1995; McConnell & Liebold, 2001; Shelton, Richeson, & Salvatore, 2005; Richeson & Shelton, 2007; Stephan & Stephan, 1985; Vorauer & Kumhyrm, 2001;
Vorauer, 2006; Word, Zanna, & Cooper, 1974)
AVOIDING TALKING ABOUT RACE AND
OTHER SOCIAL DIVIDES
• Even though race and ethnicity pervade every
aspect of our daily lives, many of us become
deeply uncomfortable whenever the conversation
turns to race. – Moya and Markus
• Eight conversation stoppers – such as:
• We’re beyond race
• Everyone’s a little bit racist
• That’s just identity politics
YET PEOPLE CALL FOR A CONVERSATION ACROSS RACE
YO-YO MA: ENGAGING DIVERSITY IN THE
SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE
• Music contributes to the solution of economic and
political problems in the world by fostering
–
–
–
–
–
Imagination
Flexibility
Empathy
Collaboration
And thus innovation
• In the Silk Road Ensemble, the musicians say that
innovation comes from learning what you don’t know
from diverse music traditions and adding it to what you do
know.
• That is what 2lst education must do – and diversity is
crucial to its realization.
THREE CHALLENGES
• The Demographic Challenge –
Changing Demographics in the U.S.
• The Democratic Challenge – Engagement of
all in light of growing economic inequalities
• The Dispersion Challenge – “Rise of the
Rest”
DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE
White Babies No Longer Majority in the U.S.
U.S. births in the year ending on July 2011 - the Census Bureau
2,019,176
Non-White
Babies
1,988,824
White
Babies
DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE
DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE
WEALTH DISTRIBUTION IN THE U.S
• The top 10% of
households
have 80% of the
financial wealth
• The bottom 80%
have 7% of the
wealth
(Domhoff, 2012)
WHERE THE U.S. STANDS IN THE WORLD
RE INEQUALITY
Country/Overall Rank
Gini Coefficient
1. Sweden
23.0
4. Norway
25.0
7. Austria
26
11. Finland
26.8
12. Germany
27
19. Denmark
29
29. Netherlands
30.9
34. Spain
32
36. Canada
32.1
44. Switzerland
33.7
60. India
36.8
87. China
41.5
99. Iran
44.5
101. United States
45
118. Costa Rica
50.3
123. Mexico
51.7
(Central Intelligence Agency, 2008)
• The United States ranks
101st in the world in terms
of income inequality
• Nine European countries
have less inequality than
the U.S.
• So does Canada
• And India, China, and Iran
THE MYTH OF EXCEPTIONAL SOCIAL
MOBILITY
It is harder for Americans
to rise from lower economic rungs than people in:
– Canada
– Germany
– Norway
– France
– Finland
– And even Great Britain
– Sweden
DeParle, J. “Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs,” The New York Times, January 4, 2012; Jäntti,
J., Røed, K., Naylor, R., et al., “American Exceptionalism in a New Light: A Comparison of Intergenerational
Earnings Mobility in the Nordic Countries, the United Kingdom and the United States,” Discussion Paper No.
1938, IZA, January 2006
WHITE, LATINO, AFRICAN AMERICAN
HOUSEHOLD NET WORTH
• Median net worth of white households is:
– 18 times that of Latino households
– 20 times that of African American households
• Between 2005 and 2009, median net worth went
down:
– 16% for white households
– 66% for Latino households
– 53% for African American households
Kochhar, R., Fry, R. & Taylor, R. Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics Twenty-to-One, Pew Research Social
& Demographic Trends, Pew Research Center, released July 26, 2011
THE DISPERSION CHALLENGE
At the politico-military
level we will remain in a
single-superworld world.
But in every other
dimension – industrial,
financial, educational,
social, cultural – the
distribution of power is
shifting, moving away
from American
dominance.
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR 21ST
CENTURY LEADERSHIP
• Broad knowledge across many disciplines
• Communication, problem solving,
collaboration across differences
• Critical, creative, adaptive, flexible thinking
• ENGAGING DIVERSITY
American Association of Colleges and Universities; Partnership for 21st Century Skills
INTERGROUP DIALOGUE
ONE APPROACH TO 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION AND
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
• The goals of intergroup dialogue:
– Intergroup Understanding
– Positive Intergroup Relationships
– Intergroup Collaboration
• Engaging diversity through:
– A distinctive pedagogy
– And communication processes
WHAT IS INTERGROUP DIALOGUE?
• Two social identity
groups
• Two facilitators
• 10-12 week course
• 4-module curriculum
ASYMMETRIES: POWER DIFFERENCES
AMONG PARTICIPANTS
HIGH POWER GROUPS
– FOCUS ON INDIVIDUALS
LOW POWER GROUPS
FOCUS ON GROUPS
– PERSONAL SHARING
EXPLORE GROUP EXPERIENCES
– STORYTELLING FOR
ILLUMINATING
COMMONALITIES
STORYTELLING FOR
ILLUMINATING
POWER DIFFERENTIALS
– INDIVIDUAL ACTION
COLLECTIVE ACTION
Saguy, Tamar, John F. Dovidio, and Felicia Pratto. 2008. “Beyond Contact: Intergroup Contact in the Context of Power Relations.” Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin 34(3): 432–45. doi:10.1177/0146167207311200; Saguy, ar, Nicole Tausch, John F. Dovidio, and Felicia Pratto.
2009. “The Irony of Harmony: Intergroup Contact Can Produce False Expectations for Equality.” Psychological Science 20(1): 114–21.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02261.x.; Saguy, Tamar, Linda R. Tropp, and Diala Hawi. 2013. “The Role of Group Power in Intergroup
Contact.” In Advances in Intergroup Contact, edited by Gordon Hodson and Miles Hewstone. New York: Psychology Press.
FOUR-MODULE CURRICULUM
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Module 4
Learning
how to
dialogue
Learning
about
identity,
inequalities
& power
Dialoguing
about “hot
topics”
Alliance
building for
collaboration
PEDAGOGY
• Content: Readings, Written Assignments
• Structured Interaction, Equal numbers of
statuses, Active learning exercises
• Facilitative Guidance
WEB OF OPPRESSION
WHAT MAKES IT WORK?
TRAINED FACILITATORS
DISTINCTIVE COMMUNICATION PROCESSES
• Dialogic Processes
– Active Listening
– Asking questions, follow-up, inquiry
– Sharing
• Critical Processes
– Identifying assumptions
– Critical analysis of inequalities
– Personal and collective critical reflection
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Does Intergroup Dialogue work?
– Evidence of Effects
• How does it work?
– Evidence of processes that account for effects
MULTIVERSITY RESEARCH PROJECT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Arizona State University
Occidental College
Syracuse University
University of California (San Diego)
University of Maryland
University of Massachusetts
University of Michigan
University of Texas
University of Washington
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN
DIALOGUE GROUP
Pretest
Intergroup
Dialogue
Posttest
1-Year
Follow-Up
Survey
Application
Randomized
WAITLIST CONTROL GROUP
Pretest
Posttest
1-Year
Follow-Up
Survey
PARTICIPANTS
DIALOGUE GROUP n = 726
WAITLIST CONTROL GROUP n = 721
52 Dialogue Experiments (26 race, 26 gender)
Within People of Color:
38% African American
36% Asian/Asian American
21% Latino/a
5% Other
QUALITATIVE METHODS
• Videotaping early, mid, and late session of 10 race
and 10 gender dialogues
• Interviewing all students in the dialogues that were
videotaped – 248 students
• Content Analysis of the final papers of students in all
52 dialogues – 720 papers
INTERGROUP EMPATHY
Months
UNDERSTANDING OF STRUCTURAL CAUSES
OF INEQUALITY
Months
INTERGROUP COLLABORATION AND
ACTION
Months
SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS OF DIALOGUE
ON:
• 20 of 24 measures of psychological processes,
intergroup understanding, relationships, and
action
• In both race and gender dialogues
• For all 4 groups of students
• Still evident a year later, time 1-3, on 21
WHAT ACCOUNTS FOR EFFECTS? STRUCTURAL
EQUATION MODEL
Χ2/DF = 2.75, RMSEA < .05
CFI = .90, TLI = .89, GFI = .87
Pre-Post Change
One-Year Later
Only significant pathways presented.
Coefficients are standardized.
Pedagogical
Features
.20
Cognitive
Involvement
.10*
.52
Structural
Understanding
Structural
Understand
ing
.24
.75
Intergroup
Empathy
.35
.36
.20
.29
.27
Communication
Processes
.37
.40
.39
Affective
Positivity
.39
Intergroup
Action
.24*
.24
Intergroup
Empathy
.29
.43
Intergroup
Action
.31
BACK TO THE CHALLENGES
• A cosmopolitan education – Appiah & Nussbaum
• Comprised of:
– Pluralistic perspective
– Critical thinking, often outside one’s comfort zone
– Empathy
– Integration of specific group-based identities with
broader identifications
HOW DO WE DO THIS?
• Deliberate use of diversity to foster
communication, problem solving,
collaboration across differences
• Pedagogy that creates active learning and
communication processes, especially listening
and inquiry
• Collective and private reflection
• Connecting substantive & disciplinary
knowledge to intercultural competencies
A BROAD APPLICATION OF DIALOGUE TO
ENGAGE DIVERSITY
•
•
•
•
•
Groups and Teams – The Special Opportunity in STEM
Community Based Youth Dialogues – Connections with K-12
Faculty Workshops
Academic and Student Affairs Collaborations
Dialogue Training for Students Involved in Community Based Learning and
Research
• International Collaborations
• National Institute – over 150 institutions
ALL ENGAGING DIVERSITY IN EXPLICIT WAYS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
•
•
•
•
W.T. Grant Foundation
Ford Foundation
Russell Sage Foundation
National Center for Institutional Diversity,
University of Michigan
COLLABORATORS
• Co-Investigators
– Ratnesh Nagda, University of Washington
– Ximena Zúñiga, University of Massachusetts
• Collaborators at Nine Institutions
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–
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–
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–
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–
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Martha Stassen, University of Massachusetts
Delia Saenz, Arizona State University
Teresa Britt, University of Texas
Kelly Maxwell, University of Michigan
Jaclyn Rodriguez, Occidental College
Gretchen Lopez, Syracuse University
Gloria Bouis, University of Maryland
Ratnesh Nagda, University of Washington
Gary Anderson, University of California, San Diego
A FULLER ACCOUNT
AVAILABLE AT RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION