Every now and again, an article comes out that tells us how far our ideals are from reality, especially on issues of diversity. David Brooks in the Atlantic, does so with People Like Us -- showing that while we naturally cluster with those like us, we need to strive for more.
Human beings are capable of drawing amazingly subtle social distinctions and then shaping their lives around them...It is a common complaint that every place is starting to look the same. But in the information age, the late writer James Chapin once told me, every place becomes more like itself. People are less often tied down to factories and mills, and they can search for places to live on the basis of cultural affinity. Once they find a town in which people share their values, they flock there, and reinforce whatever was distinctive about the town in the first place...
When we use the word "diversity" today we usually mean racial integration. But even here our good intentions seem to have run into the brick wall of human nature. Over the past generation reformers have tried heroically, and in many cases successfully, to end housing discrimination. But recent patterns aren't encouraging: according to an analysis of the 2000 census data, the 1990s saw only a slight increase in the racial integration of neighborhoods in the United States....
Looking through the market research, one can sometimes be amazed by how efficiently people cluster—and by how predictable we all are...
It's probably better to think about diverse lives, not diverse institutions. Human beings, if they are to live well, will have to move through a series of institutions and environments, which may be individually homogeneous but, taken together, will offer diverse experiences. It might also be a good idea to make national service a rite of passage for young people in this country: it would take them out of their narrow neighborhood segment and thrust them in with people unlike themselves. Finally, it's probably important for adults to get out of their own familiar circles. If you live in a coastal, socially liberal neighborhood, maybe you should take out a subscription to The Door, the evangelical humor magazine; or maybe you should visit Branson, Missouri. Maybe you should stop in at a megachurch. Sure, it would be superficial familiarity, but it beats the iron curtains that now separate the nation's various cultural zones.
Read the whole thing.
Reminds me of Seb's Thesis on blogs encouraging diversity in academia. Blogs aren't a cure all and most of the solution resides in more fundamentally bridging communities. But they have helped me connect with people outside my place and time.
