Diversity Wins? A Progressive Critique of the Business Case for Virtue

Diversity Wins? Une critique progressiste de l'argumentaire économique de la diversité

Laure Bereni ()
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Laure Bereni: CMH - Centre Maurice Halbwachs - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Département de Sciences sociales ENS-PSL - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres

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Abstract: This essay offers a progressive critique of the business case for diversity, which has been the hegemonic justification for workplace diversity programs over the past 40 years. First, the article shows that, since its emergence in the 1980s, this approach has gained only fragile recognition in the corporate world. Second, it highlights three main conceptual inconsistencies of the business case for diversity: 1) it cannot be falsified, since the generic notion of diversity is so inherently polysemic and ambiguous; 2) even when the scope of diversity is more clearly delineated, the relationship between diversity and performance is inevitably circumscribed and contingent; 3) in practice, it is most often the appearance of diversity, equity, and inclusion that is tacitly acknowledged as a source of economic benefits in the corporate world. The article concludes by pointing to the political perils associated with the hegemonic position of the business rationale, not only for diversity initiatives but also for other "responsible" corporate programs such as sustainability and human rights.

Keywords: Diversity; Inclusion; Business case (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-05067811v1
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Published in Entreprises et Histoire, 2024, Business enterprises and activists, 117, pp.165-174

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