Egalitarian society
Discussion
Responses Checklist:
- Did you respond to two or more classmates throughout the week?
- Did you use scholarly resources to support your work?
- Did you discuss each area in the instruction and Grading Rubric?
- Did you use APA?
DQ1
I could really relate to the article by Howard Rossi because I too would like to live in an egalitarian society (Schepici, 2012). Some of the reasons that our society is not egalitarian now, are physical, cultural, economic, age, and geographical differences. Hiring preferences based on any of these differences seems completely beside the point. At work, the most important difference to have is between experienced employees and newer apprentices.
Experienced employees are going to be the people who were chosen by employers in the past, so as employers learn to manage their implicit and unconscious biases (Schepici, 2012), I hope that improves. In workplaces, the focus should be on providing excellent work, not homogenized, or over priced work, but sustainable work.
If people are able to manage their biases, then their good sustainable work can be provided to everyone. This is the best case scenario of an egalitarian society, that everyone shall have equal access to jobs that they will do well because they benefit equally from the work.
By creating diversity in the workplace that is based on a range of experience, it can facilitate job mobility, and job stability. However, there is no way that one type of diversity can be used as a substitute for any other. All kinds of oversight are important, but I believe that keeping experienced employees who would like to continue, as well as giving new employees the opportunity to learn from their experience is the most important thing for work places.
Reference:
Schepici, Kristin. (2012). “Diversity, Inclusion, and the Concealed Mind (Part 1) by Howard Ross.” Leadership Insights Blog. Linkage website. Retrieved from http://blog.linkageinc.com/blog/fighting-the-bias-in-your-brain-by-howard-ross/
DQ2
- It seems that diversity or a lack of has been a big problem in America. A lot of people that live in this country have the ethnocentric attitudes that were prevalent from 1619 on through to the 19th century. We have made a lot of progress over the past 30 years, and one of the areas where there were changes in the workplace. It didn’t happen overnight; however, before the 1980’s and 1990’s, there was Affirmative Action which helped the college campus become more diverse. Some people didn’t like it because they felt it was unfair. The resisters claimed it chose race over qualifications for attending college. The other side felt if it wasn’t for Affirmative Action, they had no other way to be accepted at a four-year university. There were a lot of demonstrations and anger on both sides. I don’t know if that was the right decision or not. However, the American Civil Liberties Union helped to broaden the definition of diversity in the 80’s and 90’s yo include ethnicity, nationality, work areas, height, weight, sexual orientation, and more (Kahn). Of course, there were even more people angry over that. They are the ethnocentric ones.
In 1999 I became employed at a residential treatment center in Detroit, Michigan. I was White, and every other staff person was Black. There was some reverse racism towards me because of some of the other employees did not like the fact that a White person was working at there facility. I was a little uncomfortable because some people were mean. It wasn’t going to stop me. Eventually, though getting to know each other and communicating every day, I was accepted by the entire staff. Some of the meanest quit or were fired. I have been there for 19 years, and I have met some good friends, been to weddings, and funerals of some coworkers that I miss dearly. We talk the same language, just different. The key is understanding each other, getting to know each other. Racism, Bias, Discrimination do not belong in our America. I will end my final post with a quote from one of my favorite theorist, W.E. Du Bois; “America is not another word for to all Opportunity to all her sons.”
Kahn, A. (2015). The ecology of diversity. San Diego, CA: Bridgeport Education. Chapter 8.2
DuBois, W. (1903). The souls of black folks. A.C.McClurg. Chicago.