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Understanding the Psychology of Diversity

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Understanding the Psychology of Diversity by Bruce E. Blaine, contains a reasonable survey of the literature in the field, but with notable gaps. This book's author in future editions (And current professors teaching this course) should endeavor to fill some of those gaps by providing students with a book reading list, module content, video instruction, and other media as choices to the student to help balance the content. Blaine states that if, "...the study of diversity includes the need to understand the presence of, as well as the problems and issues associated with, social and cultural difference in our society, then psychology has much to offer" (Blaine, p. 7). Further, Blaine accurately outlines some of the difficulties in teaching this course. "When we study diversity we confront the fact that social injustices exist. Too much emphasis on social injustices (e.g. where they originate, how they can be addressed) adds a political element to the book which may be intrusive...It seems that a course on the Psychology of Diversity should provide a safe place for students to think about the moral implications of inequity. In writing this book I avoid explicit (but probably, given my own social and politically (liberal/progressive) attitudes, not implicit) polemic regarding social injustice and leave to both the instructor and the student to strike their own balance between academic learning and social advocacy" (Blaine, p. 8). Given Blaine's admission that Psychology of Diversity has both a political and moral world-view bias, it is in the spirit of providing students with a full spectrum of ideas, opinions and beliefs that those who teach diversity courses should work to provide balance. No effort should be made to indoctrinate or proselytize any one single world view or philosophical ideology as some in the Psychology of Diversity field have advocated (McFalls, Elisabeth L. and Cobb-Roberts, Deirdre, 2001). Rather, it should be every professors objective to provide the full spectrum of ideas in this fascinating field. The curriculum in this Psychology of Diversity course will be greatly enhanced by including a broad range of ideas on social policy issues, theory, and practice in this field. Students will indeed be well served by informing themselves, in an open-minded empirical way, and "by a critical examination of all points on the political spectrum" in the Psychology of Diversity field (Wester and Vogel, 2002, p. 296). Such information would foster "critical thinking, more complex reasoning styles [as well as] values clarification, moral development, and social responsibility" (Wester and Vogel, 2002, p. 296). Further, to effectively teach psychology students how diversity research itself is carried out one must examine the premise of the research itself, how the research was conducted, how the scientific method (if at all) was applied when conducting the research, and how the conclusions that may effect public policy was carried out.

Blaine is not alone in pointing out possible bias in the field of Psychology of Diversity. Redding (2001) pointed out an example of the sometime contradictory conclusions arrived when examining psychology research and how this is impacted by lack of sociopolitical diversity:

As an example of liberal bias affecting problem definition and the questions researchers choose to address, consider research on adolescents' legal competence. Psychologists have suggested two liberal but somewhat contradictory positions on whether adolescents are "competent": (a) that adolescents should be allowed to make medical treatment decisions (e.g., abortion decisions) because they are "cognitively competent" to do so and (b) that adolescents should not be tried or punished as adults because they are "immature" and thus not fully culpable for their crimes. By focusing on cognitive competence rather than the psychosocial maturity variables differentiating adult from adolescent judgment, researchers' pro-choice position that adolescents should be afforded greater decision-making autonomy enabled researchers to favor the liberal conclusion that adolescents should be allowed to make certain medical treatment decisions without parental consent. Yet focusing on psychosocial immaturity in the context of juveniles' criminal culpability enabled psychologists to argue against conservative "get tough" on crime policies of adjudicating juveniles as adults (pp. 206-207).

There are many solutions to the problems in society conceptualized by the Psychology of Diversity field. Unfortunately, most solutions offered in the study of Diversity, including this Text book by Blaine, and by the field of psychology in general tend to grow from a set of sociopolitical Liberal value-laden premises founded upon communitarianism, collectivism, centralized-planning, and trust in Government social welfare programs (Redding 2001; Redding 2002; Wester and Vogel, 2002). While sociopolitical Conservative and Libertarian values such as individual liberty, self-reliance, trust in private or faith based charity programs, trust in capitalism, and a strength-based (not victim or pathology based) psychology in the study of diversity are virtually absent from the field (Redding, 2001; Brown, 2007).

If you wish to follow the "Party-Line" and march lock-step with what has been taught in this field for decades, then this is the book for you! However, for those with a critical thinking perspective you may want to look else where or add additional resources that expand your classes sociopolitical diversity. In addition, since it is so difficult to find intellectual diversity that would give students access to a greater spectrum of ideas in much of the overall literature or textbooks in the field of diversity in psychology, it is necessary to go outside of the profession of psychology to allied professions to discover scientifically valid and unique books, research, videos, or other articles that offer a diverse voice. If as Blaine recommended that the purpose of the course should be to strike a balance and in echoing his assertion that "...educated students should have some (varied) tools for thinking about diversity", then expanding options is critical.

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