There Has To Be A Better Path To Equity And Inclusion
So then, is there no alternative path to a “better society” through the mandates and dictates of Neo-sociopsychology? Yes, there is such a path and admittedly Elliott Aronson took a few steps along this road. So did a number of others who perceived the value of the principle underlying Aronson’s Jigsaw Method. Obviously, Muzafer Sherif and the team that undertook the Robbers Cave Experiment deduced it and saw it work.
We have seen that, over the course of more than 500 years, the most consistently effective dynamic of race relations has proven to be Individual Initiative. The most immediate assumption is that by individual initiative is meant that someone of color who rises up to lead some movement or another and then that movement makes a difference in society, or a similar individual gets into a role that has traditionally been exclusive to race and gender majorities.
Those kinds of individual initiative that have made a difference in race relations includes the high-profile successes and achievements of notable and newsworthy individuals. But equally, or even more importantly, it also includes (and in far greater numbers and ever increasing) the members of historically disadvantaged groups ranging from Blacks, Hispanics, and Women, to Gays, Lesbians and others who simply go to work, do their job, and do it well.
These are the small-circle changes that surround anyone from such a minority who gets into a role, proves themselves as individuals, and through interpersonal relationships in their professional environment blur and often erase the prejudice divide on a day-to-day basis. These may not seem so significant or exciting, but they are better markers of real progress.
This dynamic not only provides a potential model to build upon, but it also points to what might prove to be a new, better, venue for effecting the very things that social psychologists have enumerated as necessary for the advancement of equality: changing stereotypes and prejudices, changing social norms, closer connections between diverse groups and the recognition of a common identity through common cause. We have tried fixing the prejudice problem in the legislative chamber, in the courts, in the streets. We keep trying and are succeeding at fixing the problem in the classroom and in the media. The one place we haven’t tried, with the right approach that is, is the workplace.
Concepts such as The Robbers Cave experiment, Aronson’s Jigsaw Methodology and other comparable situations, including thousands of years of military team training, have shown that diverse groups of people grow together when they work together on a real common cause of significant importance to each member of the group and to the group as a whole. For hundreds of years, the military version of this insight has turned citizens into comrades in arms, typically in as little as 16 weeks. The key words in this case are work, common, important to all, and real. What is meant by “real” in this case is that the common cause should not be about reducing prejudice but that reducing prejudice (as in the case of Aronson’s Jigsaw) be a byproduct of the working together better and of the meaningful outcome of that work.
