DEI

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Diversity, equity, and inclusion, often abbreviated to DEI, refers to the practice of companies crafting policies to be supportive of different groups of individuals, including people of different races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations.^[1] These policies are an outgrowth of previous similar policies such as affirmative action, and were spurred by the murder of George Floyd in 2020.^[2]

However, in the mid-2020s, there was a coordinated backlash against DEI from "conservative" reactionaries.

Manufactroversy background[edit]

This anti-DEI manufactroversy is an outgrowth of the similar manufactroversy of critical race theory, and many "anti-DEI" activists (such as Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute) were likewise involved in the previous manufactured outrage cycle.^[3]

Per a New York Times investigation in January 2024, the center of the coordinated effort to push anti-DEI propaganda came from the Claremont Institute, a once-small Reagan-esque think tank that turned authoritarian and illiberal during the presidency of Donald Trump.^[4][5] As one would expect, many of the activists involved in crafting the propaganda (such as Heather Mac Donald) were openly homophobic and racist in their private conversations discussing their propaganda strategies.^[4]

Like critical race theory, a key underpinning of the manufactroversy was to attack public education and other "liberal" higher education institutions.^{[4][note 1]} Also like critical race theory, efforts to eliminate DEI programs are rooted in racism.^[6]

DEI as a snarl word[edit]

“”Whenever you hear DEI, I want you to think about the n-word. I want you to think about racial slurs. That‘s what they actually mean.

—Representative Maxwell Frost, lambasting Republican remarks calling Kamala Harris a "DEI vice president".[7]

Similar to the term "woke", in practice, when reactionaries use the term "DEI", they often ignore much of the original aspect of DEI being a business strategy. Instead, the term is often merely a snarl word to derisively refer to minority groups.^[8] In many cases (Lee Atwater style), as with the case of Baltimore Mayor Scott below, the term "DEI" is merely a thinly-disguised substitution for nasty racial slurs.^[9]

Examples[edit]

• In 2024, the airplane manufacturer Boeing made numerous headlines when several aircraft suffered critical mechanical failures, such as a door blowing off a plane in mid-flight. Elon Musk (of course) blamed "DEI hiring" and, without any proof, claimed that "people will die due to DEI."^{[10][note 2]}
• Similarly, Musk and many other alt-right trolls (such as Steven Crowder, Dinesh D'Souza, and Christopher Rufo) bizarrely blamed DEI for the widespread computer outages during the 2024 CrowdStrike incident.^{[12][note 3]}
• In a "smaller and sadder" echo of Gamergate, trolls on social media launched a (much smaller and much more pathetic) harassment campaign against the video game narrative consultant company^[14] Sweet Baby Inc. The trolls were extremely angry that Sweet Baby purportedly were somehow forcing "political agendas and DEI into their games".^[15] (Never mind Sweet Baby was tiny and consulted on only a handful of games. Also never mind the fact that many of the trolls hadn't even played the games they were complaining about… or even complained about many games that Sweet Baby Inc. were never involved in.)^{[16][note 4]}
• During the 2024 Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott, who is Black, was called a "DEI mayor"^{[note 5]} on Twitter (despite being elected by the people like any other mayor).^[9]
• Many conservatives, believing themselves to be so clever, post the phrase "Didn't Earn It" on social media as a way to criticize DEI, using logical fallacies in the process.

DEI as a business strategy[edit]

“”I know DEI is a positive because I see its impact on bottom lines... I'm an entrepreneur and capitalist. I look for results. That's what I base my decisions on... Every single person on Twitter could disagree with me. I would still follow the results I see in my portfolio.

—Mark Cuban defending DEI as not only being good for social justice, but also being good for the business bottom line.[18]

Many of the most staunch opponents of DEI, such as Jordan Peterson or Christopher Rufo, have little or no business or management experience. In reality, a significant amount of research has been done on diversity in the workplace and how it impacts the bottom line of businesses. In general, the research has shown that companies with greater diversity and inclusiveness at all levels significantly outperform those with less diversity.^[19]

Studies have shown that DEI helps improve a business' competitive standing in the following ways:

• DEI allows a business to understand and better engage their customers. This can help improve a product's market share.^[20]
• DEI strategies can help improve a company's reputation, which can be of particular benefit for more socially conscious consumers.^[20][21] DEI likewise can have a positive impact on brand perception.^[20]
• DEI strategies can help improve employee recruitment and retention by ensuring that all employees have a fair and equal opportunity to succeed.^[21] It also can be very beneficial to overall employee morale.^[20][21]
• DEI strategies can help improve business agility and innovation.^[20]
• DEI can help create a workplace where everyone can feel safe and respected, which gives employees permission to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions to complex problems. This can lead to increased creativity; new perspectives that are not found in environments that lack diversity; increased collaboration; and more open communication.^[21] A 2017 study found that fully diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time.^[22]
• DEI can help expose a company to fresh perspectives. This helps a company identify new clients, market niches, and other opportunities, and helps a company create solutions for clients with different perspectives, preferences, and needs.^[23] In one study of venture capital (VC) organizations, lack of diversity was directly associated with homogeneous patterns of investment, which significantly decreased the success rate of these investments compared to more diverse VC organizations.^[24]
• DEI helps companies be more flexible, and adapt to changing conditions more easily.^[25]

As a result, according to a survey performed in December 2023 by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company:

• Companies with executive teams in the top quartile of gender diversity outperformed their peers by 39 percent.^[26]
• Companies with executive teams in the top quartile of ethnic diversity also outperformed their peers by 39 percent.^[26]
• More diversity in boards and executive teams was correlated to higher social and environmental impact scores.^[26]
• Companies with diverse leadership teams had greater overall involvement within their communities.^[26]
• Diverse leadership had a positive impact on a company's ethical disposition, community orientation, and the general image of a company.^[26]

Nearly 9 out of 10 businesses reported in a March 2023 survey that DEI strategies delivered either a positive or very positive return to the bottom line. Only 2% of businesses found DEI strategies to have a negative impact.^[20]

External links[edit]

• See the Wikipedia article on Diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Notes[edit]

References[edit]