A Just Pluralistic Society

Nov 18, 2012 Editorial

Common Destiny Alliance (CODA) is a consortium of US organizations and scholars interested in race and ethnic relations and committed to educational equity. They ask us to “Imagine a nation in which every person has the opportunity to learn from others whose ancestors are the descendants of all the people of the world. Imagine that each person in this nation is treated justly because the people have learned to value the contribution every individual makes to one another and to the nation as a whole.
Imagine that people of this racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse nation are at peace with one another because each person has an opportunity to reach their full potential, assume positions of leadership, and share in the bounty of a democratic society. Now, imagine that these images of a pluralistic, egalitarian nation accurately describe your country. They suggest the following principles for strategies to create such a society. They should be of interest to the ERC, when reconstituted
Principle 1: Strategies should address both institutional and individual sources of prejudice and discrimination in the contexts and situations in which the participants in the program or activity learn, work and live. Sources of prejudice and discrimination are often rooted in particular historical and social contexts, and are shaped by institutional structures and practices.
Seeking to change individuals without dealing with these influences or without engaging the specific issues that shape intergroup relations is often futile.
Principle 2: Strategies should seek to influence the behaviour of individuals, including their motivation and capability to influence others, and not be limited to efforts to increase knowledge and awareness. There are two separable but related points embedded in this principle. First, when strategies meant to improve intergroup relations do not specifically include lessons about how to act in accordance with new awareness and knowledge, they are likely to be ineffective in changing relationships. Second, prejudice and discrimination are socially influenced. Thus, altering our own behaviour may require that we enlist the support of others.
Principle 3: Strategies should include participants who reflect the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the context and should be structured in such a way as to ensure cooperative, equal-status roles for persons from different groups. The best-documented strategy for improving racial and ethnic relations involves the creation of opportunities for positive equal-status interaction among people from different groups.
These strategies are most effective when they organize cooperative activities so as to ensure that people from different backgrounds can contribute equally to the task involved.
Principle 4: Strategies should have the support and participation of those with authority and power in any given setting. People with power and authority send messages more by their deeds than by their words.
Principle 5: Strategies should involve children at an early age, and new entrants to organizations should be continually encouraged and reinforced. There are good reasons to start teaching the importance of and strategies for positive intergroup relations when children are young. People cannot be inoculated against prejudice.
Given the differences in living conditions of various racial and ethnic groups, as well as the existence of discrimination throughout our society, improving intergroup relations is a challenge that requires ongoing work.
Principle 6: Strategies should be part of a continuing set of learning activities that are valued and incorporated throughout the school, college, or other organization. In many settings, improved intergroup relations are the responsibility of a given officer or instructor, and the most common strategy is the episodic workshop or the “introductory” course—short or long.
But there is little evidence that this strategy, in and of itself, is adequate. In some cases, the one-time workshop, course, or learning module that focuses on sources of conflict or on racial or ethnic differences can even reinforce negative predispositions.
Principle 7: Strategies should expose the inaccuracies of myths that sustain stereotypes and prejudices. Many stereotypes and sources of conflict are based on myths and misinformation. It is by confronting these myths directly that we undermine the justifications for prejudice.

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