Download What is Diversity

Diversity Definitions
 Key Terms:
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Majority
Minority
Diversity
Ethnocentrism
Prejudice
Stereotype
Discrimination
Tokenism
Majority
 Refers to that group of people in the
organization who hold the most
positions that command decisionmaking power
 Have the greatest access to system
rewards
 May also refer to the group that has
the largest numbers
Minority
 Refers to the group that are usually
smaller in number
 The group that has less access to
decision-making
 Group that has less access to system
rewards
 In the larger society, the minority
group has a perceived lower status
What is Diversity?
 Diversity includes the more obvious
demographic differences (primary
characteristics):
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Race/Ethnicity/Language
Nationality
Gender/Sex
Age
Sexual Orientation
Physical Ability/Physical Attributes
What is Diversity
 Diversity also includes other differences
such as (secondary characteristics):
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Religion
Socio-economic Status/Income Level
Education Level
Military Experience
Marital Status
Parental Status
Political Affiliation
Regionality/Geographic Location
Ethnocentrism
 The belief that one’s own group,
culture, country or customs are
superior to others’
Prejudice
 A preconceived judgment, opinion
or assumption about an issue,
behavior, individual or group of
people
Stereotype
 A positive or negative assessment of
members of a group and/or their
perceived attributes
Discrimination
 The act of treating an issue, person
or behavior unjustly or inequitably on
the basis of stereotypes or
prejudices
Tokenism
 Refers to being one of a very few
members of a group in an
organization
 The practice of hiring only one of a
certain group simply to fill a quota
without proper evaluation of the
person’s skills
Sex/Gender
 Sex is the biological difference between
individuals…in this case, male and female
individuals
 Gender is a psychological and social
construct formed to explain masculinity
and femininity within a social group
 Leisure choices are often strongly
influenced by both sex and gender
Sexism
 Language (calling women “girls”, etc)
 Lack of paid parental leave for men
 Social (and agency) pressure to prevent
girls from participating in rugby, boxing,
etc (see Title IX)
 Social pressure to prevent boys from
participating in sewing, cooking, ballet,
etc
 Lack of available child-care in leisure
facilities
Status
 The amount of esteem and prestige
one can elicit from others in society
 May be based on any of the primary
or secondary characteristics that
form the dimensions of diversity
Culture
 Surface Culture
 Deep Culture
 Subculture
Surface Culture
 Those elements of a culture that are
visible, or able to be picked up by the
immediate senses
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Music
Clothing
Food
Appearance
Gestures
 Often people make judgments based on
surface culture elements alone
Deep Culture
 Those elements of an individual that are
not visible to others, yet may be even
more important in terms of self-identity
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World views
Social systems
Beliefs
Values
Unstated (informal) norms
Religion
Subculture
 It is common for people to belong to
one primary culture and one or
more than one subculture
 Subcultures may be associated with
groups relating to work or leisure
activities or with an individual’s
economic or social status
Subcultures
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Middle class
Single
Country western line dancers
Stamp collectors
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CPRS
Classifications
 While cultures, subcultures and other
categories of diversity are
convenient methods of classifying
people, recreation agencies must
always be aware of overgeneralizing to the point of
stereotype
Diversity in Rec and Leisure
 Leisure services are not alone in
being affected by the changing
demographics of the US
 In many ways, diversity is the term
that replaces the term multicultural
How it Affects Us
 California became a “minority majority” in 2000
 The number of people age 65 and older that will
remain at work is increasing
 Individuals with disabilities will compete more
effectively for employment within leisure services
organizations
 ADA requirements are still being implemented
 Two out of three new workers are now women
and by 2008, women will be 48% of the
workforce
 Affirmative Action programs are being
questioned
How it Affects Us
 Increased day care services and
flexible work schedules
 New types of benefits
 Multicultural programs and
employee training
 Changing facility design
 Increased programs for the “elderly”
How it Affects Us
 Lawsuits related to discrimination
and sexual harassment
 Responding to changing societal
values
 Sensitivity and political correctness
 Equal opportunity in hiring and
delivery of services
How it Affects Us
 Privacy regarding HIV and AIDS
 Inner-agency growing pains