Sociology of Diversity

Diversity

The condition of having different elements or different types of people within a group or organization, especially differences such as race or culture.

Counting Diversity

Empirically measuring differences within a population.

Culture Diversity

Understanding and appreciating cultural differences between groups.

Good-for-business Diversity

The idea that organizations can benefit from diverse workforces, leading to increased profitability, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Conflict Diversity

Focuses on how groups exist within a hierarchy of inequality, examining power, privilege, and wealth.

Sociology

The scientific and systematic study of social behavior and human groups.

Group

A collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and share some sense of common identity.

Society

A group of people who live in a defined geographic area, interact with one another, and share a common culture.

Culture

A group's shared practices, values, and beliefs.

Social facts

Aspects of social life that shape people's behavior, such as laws, morals, values, and customs.

Sociological imagination

Awareness of the relationship between personal behavior/experiences and the larger culture and society that shape choices and perceptions.

Essentialism

The view that reality exists independently of our perception and that real, important differences exist between categories of people.

Social construction

The perspective that reality cannot be completely separated from how culture interprets it.

Privilege

Advantages available to members of some groups that are unavailable to others based on group membership.

Stereotype

An oversimplified generalization about a group.

Prejudice

Beliefs, thoughts, feelings, or attitudes someone holds toward a group.

Discrimination

Actions taken against people based on categories such as race, ethnicity, or gender.

Social Stratification

The ranking of people based on factors such as wealth, income, education, and power.

Income

Money received through wages, salaries, interest, dividends, and other sources.

Wealth

The assets a person owns, expressed as net worth.

Closed system

A social stratification system where social position is difficult to change and often determined by birth.

Open system

A social stratification system where social position can change more easily, emphasizing achievement.

Social Mobility

The ability of individuals to change positions within a social stratification system.

Intersectionality

The concept that race, class, gender, sexuality, and other social characteristics interact rather than function separately.