20 Examples of Diversity

John Spacey, May 14, 2021

Diversity is the variety of identities, backgrounds and characteristics of people in a group. This is often considered an indicator of fairness and inclusion of processes that select group members such as recruiting and school admissions. Diversity may also be valued for its ability to spark creative tension as diverse groups may have vastly different perspectives that help to prevent the potentially static thinking of uniform and like-minded groups. The following are illustrative examples of identities and backgrounds that may make groups more diverse.

Age	Criminal Background
Culture	Disability Status
Education	Ethnicity
Health & Mental Health	Language
Marital Status	Military Service
Nationality & Citizenship Status	Neurodiversity
Parental Status	Political Beliefs
Race	Religion
Sex & Gender Identity	Sexual Orientation
Socioeconomic Status	Worldview

Neurodiversity refers to variation in neurological characteristics. For example, people who are very introverted or extroverted or that have distinctive non-pathological cognitive tendencies such as visual thinking.

Motley Crew Principle

The motley crew principle is the theory that diverse groups are more creative. This is an analogy to an American film crew that typically includes people from a broad range of backgrounds including technicians, artists and management roles. According to this theory, diverse groups generate creative tension that may be absent in a group where everyone has a common identity and background.

Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism is the view that culture exists at a global level such that learning to thrive in a diverse environment is a primary type of cultural capital. In other words, being at home with differences is more of a talent than being able to get along with people who have a very similar identity and background to yourself.

20 Examples of Diversity

Motley Crew Principle

Cosmopolitanism

Cultural Capital

Trending