Contemporary Racism, Organizational Inequality and Sustainable Diversity: Phillip Bowman
On October 29, 2014, The Bahá'í Chair for World Peace invited Phillip Bowman to give a lecture on Contemporary Racism, Organizational Inequality and Sustainable Diversity as part of the Structural Racism and Root Causes of Prejudice Series.
As we move further into the 21st century, a growing body of social research shows how various conceptualizations of “contemporary racism” have essentially replaced “traditional racism” (e.g. beliefs about biological inferiority, racial hatred and explicit discrimination) in the USA. In this presentation, I argue that these new concepts of contemporary racism are necessary but not sufficient for a deeper understanding of racial inequalities at the organizational, national and international levels. To make my case, I first examine how the core dimensions of three models of contemporary racism – “symbolic racism,” “laissez faire racism,” and “color-blind racism” – help to explain the persistence of both individual racial discrimination and inequality. Second, I highlight how status characteristics models can provide a deeper understanding of informal group processes that perpetuate inequalities in universities, workplaces and other organizations. Third, I describe how asustainable diversity model can help to explain national policy options under which growing racial/ethnic diversity can be more or less sustainable. Fourth, I suggest that contemporary racism continues to combine with informal status processes within organizations to impede the development of sustainable diversity policy at the national level. I conclude my talk by suggesting that this multilevel problem of 21st century racism is not only a challenge for racial/ethnic minorities but also for sustainable development in the USA and other nations in a competitive global economy.
About the Speaker:
Bowman is the founding director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan, a national think-tank for researchers and other key stakeholders in a social change agenda, and he serves as PI of the center's Diversity Research & Policy Program. Prior to joining the university, Bowman served as director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He has held leadership roles at Northwestern University, including faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, faculty affiliate at the Joint Center for Poverty Research, coordinator of the Spencer Training Grant in Education and Social Policy, coordinator of the Graduate Program in Counseling Psychology, director of the Summer Academic Workshop, director of the Social and Behavioral Science Scholars Program and interim chair of the Department of African American Studies. Bowman’s scholarship focuses on diversity issues in research methodology, higher education, and public policy; social psychological issues in racial/ethnic disparities, and African-American Studies. He is an active national and international lecturer and consultant on diversity issues in research methodology, higher education, and public policy. He has been a Rockefeller and Senior Ford Postdoctoral Fellow and his research has been supported by several sources, such as the Spencer Foundation, state agencies, and a number of federal agencies, including the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Science Foundation. Bowman received a doctorate in social psychology from the university and began his professional career at the U-M Institute for Social Research. He also served as an assistant professor in psychology and Afroamerican and African studies.
Event Information: http://www.bahaichair.umd.edu/events/oct29-2014
Copyright: University of Maryland 2014
