Some Aspects to Diversity

Diversity

A description of least four different characteristics of diversity

The terms that help to define the characteristic of a community of people that are inclusive but have different human characteristics, word views and ideas and there are both benefits and challenges for the growth that arise from the interaction of such people is known as diversity. A wide range of individual differences and similarities that are present among people within a community is represented by diversity. A number of differentiating human characteristics like religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, creed, race, national origin, can form the basis of diversity (Hill, 2009). In general, there are several characteristics of diversity. Such characteristic includes but are not limited to age, ethnicity, economic background, and gender.

Diversity on the basis of age is one of the primary and most notable diversity characteristics that is most easily notable among communities. The differences in age within a community often results in differences in world views, ideas, and morals. For example, members of a community that are relatively younger would have differences in the way they adopt, adapt and perceive technology compared to people of the older generation. The approach to religion and spirituality is often also different among people of different ages.

Another glaring diversity characteristic is the differences due to ethnicity. The ethnic composition makes up the ethnicity within a group or a community. In most modern societies there are people from different ethnic backgrounds and races. The difference in ethnic backgrounds or race is also most often combined with differences in cultures and beliefs that create differences between various sections of the society. Therefore ethnicity or the difference in terms of race is one of the most important characteristics of diversity.

Many of the communities have stark differences based on gender. Almost all the societies have unwritten rules that tend to define the role of various individuals based on their gender which flows from tradition and established societal norms. For example, in many of the Eastern societies, traditionally, the male gender is associated with earning bread for a family whereas the female folk is expected to look after the household. However with modernity gaining a strong foothold in most societies there is increased talk of gender equality where e male and the female gender strive to gain equal status. But even then in many aspects of the workplace, there is gender difference which leads to diversity within a community.

Economic diversity is perhaps one of the most striking characteristics of diversity. This characteristic flows from the difference between people in terms of the economic conditions or the money that is owned by an individual. Due to many conditions, different sections of the society earn varying amounts of money. For example, societies have grouped people who earn a certain amount of money compared to others and hence the concept of the high-income group, the middle, and the low-income groups have emerged. Differences in approach to life as well as the various ways of life, based on the economic condition of an individual or a group, are one of the stronger and more obvious characteristics of diversity.

A definition of the term minority, and an example of a minority group

In a society or a community, those groups that have limited, few or even no positions of power is often defined to be minorities. This is also often referred to as social minority and is identified in comparison to those who are the majority groups and who hold positions of power in a society (Nettles & Balter, 2012). Generally one or more of the characteristics of diversity that are observable such as age, gender, race, economic power, religion, etc. are also the defining characteristics of a minority group. While defying minority it is not always necessary to take into account the numeric minority or the number of members of such a group within a society or a community. For example, in some societies and communities, women are considered as a minority group even though they have almost the same number as the majority group -- men. In a few cases, the numerical value of a minority group can even be more than the majority group.

One such example of a minority group is the system of apartheid that was prevalent in South Africa. This system tends to exemplify the complexities associated with the use of term "minority." The system of apartheid was based on differentiation on the basis of race and racial segregation of people established by the rulers of the country at that point in time. The reason that the original inhabitants -- blacks. In South Africa can be referred to as minority despite they being the majority in terms of numbers in the society or the country is because they were given very little or no power in the society and the government (Nettles & Balter, 2012).

Policies and rules were made that tended to diminish the influence of this group on the society and its governance, economic and political powers. This system was prevalent during the rule of the National Party governments between the years 1948 and 1994. The numeric minority Afrikaner population was given enormous power as well as privileges compared to those the majority black population. This system of minority identification based on social and political power gave the whites most of the legal, political, and economic power.

The difference between cultural diversity and racial diversity

The term "culture" refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Culture takes a long time to build up it may take generations to develop. Culture is often shared among a large group of people and is transmitted through generations. Cultural diversity, therefore, is the differences between groups of people who have different beliefs, social customs, approaches to various incidents and contingencies and have different values and approaches to life.

For example, in a multicultural urban society, there would be people from various cultural backgrounds that have different ways to approach and views about marriage, the reaction towards minority groups and life in general (Schnell, 2011). On the other hand, racial diversity can be defined as the differences between groups of people based on the ancestral history of the groups. The race is based on the traits within an individual or a group of individuals produced by this genetic ensemble. Racial diversity is based more on the looks and the physical appearance of an individual or a group.