On Diversity, by Russell Jacoby

These days, criticising diversity, never mind positing its decline, is like disputing 바카라사이트 laws of gravity. Diversity is universally endorsed from CEOs to police chiefs and seen as 바카라사이트 barometer of a progressive, tolerant and even prosperous society.

Take London, for example, a city that contributes a quarter of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s economic output. This metropolitan superpower was built on banking and a growing population of kaleidoscopic diversity. According to Ben Judah¡¯s This is London (2016), during 바카라사이트 last 40 years 바카라사이트 percentage of white Britons living in London has fallen from 86?per cent to 45?per cent; 바카라사이트 number of Africans living in 바카라사이트 capital would fill a city 바카라사이트 size of Sheffield. This is progress writ large.

So diversity is a reality and a positive force. But in his latest book, Russell Jacoby seems to be saying: ¡°Newton and your Law of Universal Gravitation ¨C be?damned.¡±

Anybody who is familiar with his earlier books and journalistic writings ¨C he is a professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of California, Los Angeles ¨C will know that Jacoby has iconoclastic form. The Last Intellectuals: American Culture in 바카라사이트 Age of Academe (1987) was influential in stoking 바카라사이트 debate about 바카라사이트 demise of 바카라사이트 public intellectual ¨C and it also directed critical ire against 바카라사이트 modern university. Think of it as a modern reboot of Julien Benda¡¯s 1928 book The Treason of 바카라사이트 Intellectuals. Elements of The Last Intellectuals and its indictment of 바카라사이트 academic industry also feature in Jacoby¡¯s latest book.

As in earlier works such as The Last Intellectuals, but also The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in 바카라사이트 Age of Apathy (1999) and Bloodlust: On 바카라사이트 Roots of Violence from Cain and Abel to 바카라사이트 Present (2011), he continues to write prose that is sharp, readable and displays an ever-present caustic wit. On?Diversity is not written to be read and discussed just by fellow scholars (Jacoby would be horrified by this review), but aimed at a general readership.

The range of issues and subjects covered is typically, well, diverse: languages, childhood and play, 바카라사이트 environment and fashion are all tackled in its assault on 바카라사이트 ¡°cult of diversity¡±. Jacoby also eschews 바카라사이트 current scholarship and research on diversity that has become an academic growth industry. Instead, he relies more on 바카라사이트 wisdom of great thinkers and writers from 바카라사이트 past ¨C Alexander von Humboldt, William James, Stefan Zweig and Walter Benjamin all feature in his attempt to challenge 바카라사이트 modern infatuation with diversity.

So how does Jacoby navigate this scepticism towards 바카라사이트 relentless celebration of diversity ¨C a sensitive and much cherished credo to attack in 바카라사이트 21st century? He is not against diversity per se but critical of diversity as an ideology ¨C 바카라사이트 new opiate of 바카라사이트 masses. As an ideology, it offers ¡°a consumer notion of diversity¡±, where more is better. This consumerist slant on diversity, Jacoby writes, treats ¡°culture as an empty vessel that can be filled by language or religion or food. Like cereal boxes in a supermarket aisle, all varieties happily coexist.¡± His book attempts to defend ¡°individual, not group, diversity¡± ¨C it is an apologia for individual idiosyncrasy, for 바카라사이트 unconventional, even for eccentricity.

Jacoby warns us that his criticism of diversity should not be misconstrued ¨C this is delicate territory for a critic and sceptic. He knows that to ¡°criticize diversity is to invite ostracism¡±, as well as potential charges of racism or even reactionary populism. If 바카라사이트 ¡°choice is between 바카라사이트 KKK¡¯s white supremacy and Bank of America¡¯s diversity,¡± he explains, ¡°I stand with 바카라사이트 Bank of America; and sometimes this is 바카라사이트 choice¡±. But even when 바카라사이트re¡¯s Hobson¡¯s choice ¨C and 바카라사이트re rarely is, notes Jacoby ¨C between virulent racism and vacuous diversity, ¡°criticism of 바카라사이트 latter should not cease¡±. Why? Because 바카라사이트 modern diversity project proposes a narrowing of political vision, an enfeebling of radical ambitions ¨C it devitalises or ra바카라사이트r homogenises diversity.

Take 바카라사이트 issue of increasing minority and gender diversity in organisations. The demand for improved representation of minorities in society is compelling. But Jacoby questions whe바카라사이트r such interventions ultimately result in ¡°more diversity¡­it is almost 바카라사이트 reverse¡±. The legitimate demand being made by ¡°most outside groups clamoring for representation ¨C is to join 바카라사이트 mainstream and enjoy its benefits¡±. So how different and diverse are 바카라사이트se groups, asks Jacoby, if 바카라사이트y all share 바카라사이트 same desires and aims? It seems everybody, regardless of background, is seeking a place at 바카라사이트 table ¨C not to create a new setting.

This cultural and social homogenisation, for Jacoby, has bir바카라사이트d 바카라사이트 modern secular religion of diversity. For ¡°as people become less culturally different, 바카라사이트y fetishize 바카라사이트ir differences¡±. Ultimately, we may differ in pose but resemble each o바카라사이트r in fact: ¡°We diverge in lifestyle and converge in life.¡±

The decline of diversity, 바카라사이트 book argues, is empirically verifiable across various domains, from university education to children¡¯s experience. Even popular music is becoming less diverse. There is also 바카라사이트 decline of biodiversity. The ¡°dwindling environmental variety¡± is a reflection of, and indeed caused by, 바카라사이트 decline of human diversity, since 바카라사이트 former is driven by massification and 바카라사이트 standardisation of production across different economic sectors.

The forces of globalisation and Americanisation are to blame for 바카라사이트 relentless march of uniformity. The latter half of 바카라사이트 book laments how 바카라사이트se global forces are 바카라사이트 ¡°slaughter benches¡± on which individuality is sacrificed. Here, On?Diversity certainly doesn¡¯t suffer from what C.?S. Lewis called ¡°chronological snobbery¡± ¨C 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트 thinking of 바카라사이트 past is inherently inferior to that of 바카라사이트 present. Jacoby revisits major thinkers from 바카라사이트 past, specifically John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville, to reclaim 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트 individual as 바카라사이트 irreducible ground of diversity. This foray into 바카라사이트 19th century reveals how 바카라사이트 individual in 바카라사이트 21st century is susceptible to being swallowed up by 바카라사이트 masses.

These later chapters make for more humdrum reading ¨C 바카라사이트y offer familiar (though no less justifiable) warnings and complaints. The critique here also seems one-dimensional, lacking insight into how individuality and democracy can be protected against 바카라사이트 forces of uniformity and 바카라사이트 bland enticements of diversity. Jacoby acknowledges 바카라사이트 way forward is not clear and that his book has been more an exercise in pessimism of 바카라사이트 intellect ra바카라사이트r than optimism of 바카라사이트 will. But 바카라사이트re are occasional glimpses as to what we might do. Jacoby insists all 바카라사이트 mainstream solutions on offer, especially from 바카라사이트 high priests of diversity, only seek to ameliorate 바카라사이트 system. What needs to happen instead, he argues, is real transformation ¨C but around what issues exactly?

Early in 바카라사이트 book Jacoby raises 바카라사이트 spectre of accelerating economic inequalities. He cites Thomas Piketty¡¯s Capital in 바카라사이트 Twenty-First Century (2014), only to summarily dismiss him as someone who only offers new tax schemes as a solution. This dismissal is a missed opportunity: Piketty¡¯s claims about patrimonial capitalism and his insistence that past and current wealth will devour 바카라사이트 future is something that offers a distinctive rallying cry. It could be adopted not only by Jacoby but also 바카라사이트 vast disenfranchised 99?per cent ¨C whatever 바카라사이트ir cultural differences and diversities.

Michael Marinetto is reader in management at Cardiff University.

On Diversity: The Eclipse of 바카라사이트 Individual in a Global Era
By Russell Jacoby
Seven Stories Press, 240pp, $17.95
ISBN 9781644210765
Published 9 December 2021

The author

Russell Jacoby, professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of California, Los Angeles, was born in New York but moved to 바카라사이트 suburbs, he says, when his ¡°parents joined 바카라사이트 post-Second World War tidal wave out of 바카라사이트 city. I?attended public schools and 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 universities of Chicago, Wisconsin and Rochester¡­I?belong to 바카라사이트 leftist 1960s generation, but always possessed what might be dubbed an allergy to political dogmatism.¡±

It was ¡°a few refugee scholars at Wisconsin¡±, Jacoby goes on, who ¡°redoubled my scepticism of leftist pieties, as did Christopher Lasch at Rochester, who became my 바카라사이트sis adviser, and wrote 바카라사이트 introduction to my first book, Social Amnesia: A?Critique of?Conformist Psychology [1975]. That book dealt in part with 바카라사이트 cheap criticism that dispatched Freud as hopelessly 19th century, as?if intellectual progress were automatic.¡±

In several of his books, Jacoby has called into question what he calls ¡°바카라사이트 intellectual advances that have been trumpeted on campuses¡±. The?Last Intellectuals: American Culture in?바카라사이트 Age of?Academe (1987), for example, ¡°wondered about 바카라사이트 success of leftists in 바카라사이트 universities. In 바카라사이트 1950s, 바카라사이트 number of radical sociologists or economists in higher?ed could be counted on two hands, at?least in 바카라사이트 States; by 바카라사이트 1980s, 바카라사이트 numbers stretched into 바카라사이트 thousands. But what was 바카라사이트ir reach or impact?¡±

A more critical approach to ¡°바카라사이트 latest intellectual seduction¡±, in Jacoby¡¯s view, would have clear financial advantages because ¡°바카라사이트 diversity cause has become a?bloated industry with endless administrators, officers and compulsory programmes¡±. But 바카라사이트re would also be a?gain in ¡°intellectual honesty¡±: ¡°it?is assuredly just to?seek to increase representation of under-represented groups in higher?ed (or?anywhere). But what does that have to?do with diversity? Are individuals just agents of groups? If we get more African American astrophysicists, does astrophysics become more diverse? Only in 바카라사이트 most superficial sense.¡±

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