DEI

[[File:2019 New Horizons in Conservation Diversity, Equity and Justice (47699061491).jpg|thumb|right|165px|The 2019 New Horizons Conference on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability in environmental conservation<ref>[https://jedsi.yale.edu/new-horizons-in-conservation/2019-new-horizons-conference 2019 New Horizons Conference] ''Yale University''.</ref>]]
{{SJ}}
'''Diversity, equity, and inclusion''' (often abbreviated '''DEI''') refers to the practice of companies crafting policies to be supportive of different groups of individuals, including different races, ethnicities, [[religions]], abilities, [[gender]]s, and [[sexual orientation]]s.<ref>[https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-diversity-equity-and-inclusion "What is diversity, equity, and inclusion?"]. McKinsey and Company, 2022 August 17</ref> These policies are an outgrowth of previous similar policies such as [[affirmative action]], and were spurred by the murder of [[George Floyd]] in 2020.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2024/dei-history-affirmative-action-timeline/ "Affirmative action is under attack. How did we get here?"] by Julian Mark, Taylor Telford, and Emma Kumer, Washington Post, 2024 March 9</ref> However, in the mid-2020s, there was a coordinated backlash against DEI from "conservative" [[reactionaries]].

==Manufactroversy background==
The 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.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/us/dei-defenders-see-historic-backlash-reaj/index.html "DEI supporters see echoes of America’s fraught racial history in attacks on diversity efforts"] by Athena Jones, CNN, 2024 February 23</ref> 

According to a ''[[New York Times]]'' investigation in January 2024, the center of the coordinated effort to push anti-DEI [[propaganda]] came from the {{wpl|Claremont Institute||,}} a once-small [[Reagan]]-esque [[think tank]] that became [[authoritarian]] and illiberal during the presidency of [[Donald Trump]].<ref name="nytdei">[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/20/us/dei-woke-claremont-institute.html "‘America Is Under Attack’: Inside the Anti-D.E.I. Crusade"] by Nicholas Confessore, 2024 January 20</ref><ref>[https://www.thebulwark.com/what-the-hell-happened-to-the-claremont-institute/ "What the Hell Happened to the Claremont Institute?"] by Laura K. Field, Bulwark, 2021 July 13</ref> 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.<ref name="nytdei"/>

The evidence for manufactroversy is confirmed by Trump's own behavior. During his first administration, the policies of diversity hiring from previous administrations were left intact, even within the Federal Aviation Administration, which he baselessly blamed for an air crash during his second administration on DEI.<ref>[https://archive.ph/dDusb#selection-651.218-651.222 Trump launched air controller diversity program that he now decries: At news conference, Trump read a list of disabilities he calls disqualifying, but his administration started such hiring in 2019] by Glenn Kessler (January 30, 2025) ''The Washington Post'' (archived from 31 Jan 2025 13:03:25 UTC).</ref>

Like [[critical race theory]], a key underpinning of the manufactroversy was to attack [[public education]] and other "[[liberal]]" higher education institutions.<ref name="nytdei"/><ref group=note>It's like conservatives ''want'' their constituents to be stupid…</ref> Also like critical race theory, efforts to eliminate DEI programs are rooted in [[racism]].<ref>[https://theconversation.com/yes-efforts-to-eliminate-dei-programs-are-rooted-in-racism-227028 "Yes, efforts to eliminate DEI programs are rooted in racism"] by Tatishe Nteta, Adam Eichen, Douglas Rice, Jesse Rhodes, and Justin H. Gross, The Conversation, 2024 April 5</ref>

==DEI as a snarl word==
{{cquote|Whenever you hear DEI, I want you to think about the [[nigger|n-word]]. I want you to think about racial slurs. That's what they actually mean.|||Representative {{wpl|Maxwell Frost||,}} lambasting [[Republican]] remarks calling [[Kamala Harris]] a "DEI vice president"<ref>[https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4788529-frost-harris-diversity-equity-inclusion/ "Frost calls out GOP for ‘racist dog whistles’ about Harris"] by Miranda Nazzaro, Hill, 2024 July 23</ref>}}

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]] [[dogwhistle]] used to derisively refer to minority groups and/or women, especially those working in a professional capacity.<ref>[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/01/the-war-on-dei-is-about-hierarchy.html "The War on DEI Is About Hierarchy"] by Sarah Jones, New York, 2024 January 23</ref><ref name="deibourbonstreet">[https://newrepublic.com/post/189780/right-wingers-think-new-orleans-attack-deis-fault "Right-Wingers Think the New Orleans Attack Is DEI’s Fault"] by Malcolm Ferguson, New Republic, 2025 January 2</ref> In many cases ([[Lee Atwater#How politics changed|Lee Atwater style]]), as with the case of Baltimore Mayor Scott below, the term "DEI" is merely a thinly-veiled substitution for nasty racial slurs.<ref name="nprdeiracists"/> 

"DEI" is also a convenient [[scapegoat]] for reactionaries. Whenever any disaster occurs, no matter how bizarre the logic, it's very likely that some reactionary media pundit or social media account will be screeching about how it's all DEI's fault.<ref>[https://www.fastcompany.com/91162241/conservatives-are-blaming-dei-for-everything-a-semi-comprehensive-list "Conservatives are blaming DEI for everything: a (semi) comprehensive list"] by Mita Mallick, FastCompany, 2024 July 25</ref> 

===Examples===
* In 2024, airplane manufacturer {{wpl|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."<ref>[https://www.vox.com/politics/24049675/dei-boeing-airline-accidents-republicans-blame-diversity "No, DEI isn’t making airplanes fall apart"] by Fabiola cineas, Vox, 2024 January 25</ref>{{efn|Most sober analysis attributed Boeing's woes to management prioritizing finance metrics over quality engineering ever since Boeing merged with {{wpl|McDonnell Douglas}} in 1997.<ref>[https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-737-max-quality-control-company-culture-merger-finances-2024-1 "Boeing's quality-control process and company culture are being heavily scrutinized after the 737 Max Flight 1282 blowout"] by Pete Syme, Business Insider, 2024 January 13</ref>}}
* 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 {{wpl|2024 CrowdStrike incident||.}}<ref>[https://newrepublic.com/post/184065/far-right-favorite-conspiracy-dei-microsoft-crowdstrike-outage "Far Right Revives Its Favorite Idiotic Conspiracy for Microsoft Outage"] by Hafiz Rashid, New Republic, 2024 July 19</ref>{{efn|In reality, the root cause of the incident was a bad driver which, due to poor software update rollout protocol, was deployed before it had been adequately tested and reviewed.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/crowdstrike-update-that-caused-global-outage-likely-skipped-checks-experts-say-2024-07-20/ "CrowdStrike update that caused global outage likely skipped checks, experts say"] by Zeba Siddiqui, Reuters, 2024 July 22</ref>}}
* 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<ref>[https://kotaku.com/sweet-baby-inc-consulting-games-alan-wake-2-dei-1851312428 "Sweet Baby Inc. Doesn’t Do What Some Gamers Think It Does"] by Alyssa Mercante, Kotaku, 2024 March 6</ref> {{wpl|Sweet Baby Inc.}} The trolls were ''extremely angry'' that Sweet Baby was purportedly somehow forcing "political agendas and DEI into their games".<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/18/24104799/gamergate-2024-sweet-baby-inc-diversity "The return of Gamergate is smaller and sadder"] by Ash Parrish, The Verge, 2024 March 18</ref> (Never mind the fact that 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 had never been involved in.)<ref>[https://www.wired.com/story/sweet-baby-video-games-harassment-gamergate/ "The Small Company at the Center of ‘Gamergate 2.0’"] by Megan Farokhmanesh, Wired, 2024 March 14</ref>{{efn|According to Sweet Baby CEO Kim Belair, the troll effort to make pariahs out of the small company actually seemed to have the ''opposite'' effect of further solidifying the company's relationship with their clients.<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/sweet-baby-inc-gamergate-1.7149888 "Why a Montreal video game consulting studio is at the centre of an online anti-diversity storm"] by Jonathan Ore, CBC, 2024 April 3</ref>}}
* After the 2024 {{wpl|Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse||,}} Baltimore mayor {{wpl|Brandon Scott||,}} who is [[African-American|Black]], was called a "DEI mayor" on [[Twitter]]<ref group=note>The author of the tweet in particular likely wanted to use a [[N-word|different word]] to refer to Scott, but refrained from doing so, as it would be too mask-off and revealing of the true views these kooks hold.</ref> (despite being elected by the people like any other mayor).<ref name="nprdeiracists">[https://www.npr.org/2024/04/04/1242294070/baltimore-bridges-collapse-is-the-target-of-anti-dei-rhetoric "Baltimore bridge's collapse is the target of anti-DEI rhetoric"] by Alana Wise, NPR, 2024 April 4</ref>
* 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.
* In December 2024, [[Scott Adams]] and others on social media bizarrely mused that DEI was partially behind the {{wpl|2024 United States drone sightings||.}}<ref>[https://www.dailydot.com/debug/new-jersey-drones-dei/ "Right-wing finally finds a way to blame DEI for mysterious drone sightings"] by Mikael Thalen, Daily Dot, 2024 December 16</ref>
* In January 2025, reactionaries (including, once again, Elon Musk)<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/elon-musk-california-wildfires-conspiracy-theories-b2676105.html "Elon Musk uses wildfires to attack California’s DEI practices — as MAGA faithful spread wild conspiracies"] by Rhian Lubin, Independent, 2025 January 8</ref> blamed the {{wpl|January 2025 Southern California wildfires}} on DEI,<ref>[https://www.thedailybeast.com/scott-jennings-says-la-firefighters-too-busy-promoting-diversity/ "CNN’s Scott Jennings Makes L.A. Fire Hell All About DEI"] by Leigh Kimmins, Daily Beast, 2025 January 9</ref> in spite of scientific evidence of said fires having been caused by drought and high winds (conditions that were enhanced by [[climate change]]).<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0ewe4p9128o "High winds, lack of rain and climate change stoking California fires"] by Matt McGrath, BBC, 2025 January 9</ref>
* In late January 2025, [[Donald Trump]], a frequent practitioner of "[[wingnut welfare]]" hiring,{{efn|This is perhaps best exemplified by Trump's second term Secretary of Defense pick, where {{wpl|Lloyd Austin||,}} an experienced and decorated (but — gasp! — [[African-American|Black]]) four star general, was replaced by {{wpl|Pete Hegseth||,}} a [[Fox News]] host with only modest military experience who also was credibly accused of on-the-job [[alcoholism]] and [[rape|sexual assault]].<ref>[https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/pete-hegseth-unqualifed-confirmation-hearing-senate-rcna187089 "Pete Hegseth’s only qualification for defense secretary is fealty to Trump"] by Jeff McCausland, MSNBC, 2025 January 14</ref>}} grotesquely politicized the {{wpl|2025 Potomac River mid-air collision}} tragedy by (without evidence) blaming it on supposed diversity hires, particularly those with disabilities.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/us/politics/trump-plane-crash-dei-faa-diversity.html "Trump Blames D.E.I. and Biden for Crash Under His Watch"] by David E. Sanger, New York Times, 2025 January 30</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvmdm1m7m9o "Combative Trump blames diversity policies after air tragedy"] by Anthony Zurcher, BBC, 2025 January 31</ref>

==DEI as a business strategy==
{{cquote|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.|||{{wpl|Mark Cuban}} defending DEI as not only being good for [[social justice]], but also being good for the business bottom line<ref>[https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-defends-dei-say-boosted-his-bottom-line-2024-4 "Mark Cuban is doubling down on backing DEI, saying it's boosted his bottom lines"] by Kwan Wei Kevin Tan, Business Insider, 2024 April 2</ref>}}

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.<ref>[https://martech.org/the-war-on-dei-is-hitting-marketing-and-hurting-business/ "The war on DEI is hitting marketing and hurting business"] by Constantine von Hoffman, Martech, 2024 February 20</ref>

Studies have shown that DEI helps improve a business's 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.<ref name="esgdei">[https://d1.awsstatic.com/executive-insights/en_US/esgamatureapproachtoDEI.pdf "A Mature Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Delivers Real Results"] by Adam DeMattia, Senior Director of Research, Enterprise Strategy Group, Techtarget / AWS, 2023 March</ref>
* DEI strategies can help improve a company's reputation, which can be of particular benefit for more socially conscious consumers.<ref name="esgdei"/><ref name="berkshiredei"/> DEI likewise can have a positive impact on brand perception.<ref name="esgdei"/>
* DEI strategies can help improve employee recruitment and retention by ensuring that all employees have a fair and equal opportunity to succeed.<ref name="berkshiredei"/> It also can be very beneficial to overall employee morale.<ref name="esgdei"/><ref name="berkshiredei">[https://www.berkshireassociates.com/blog/how-to-make-the-busienss-case-for-dei "How to Make the Business Case for DEI"], Berkshire Associates, 2023 September 15</ref>
* DEI strategies can help improve business agility and innovation.<ref name="esgdei"/>
* 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.<ref name="berkshiredei"/> A 2017 study found that fully diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time.<ref>[https://www.cloverpop.com/blog/infographic-diversity-inclusion-better-decision-making-at-work "Infographic: Diversity + Inclusion = Better Decision Making At Work"] by Erik Larson, Cloverpop, 2017 September 19</ref>
* 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.<ref>[https://www.troweprice.com/financial-intermediary/us/en/insights/articles/2023/q3/the-bottom-line-dei-can-have-an-impact-on-your-practice.html "The Bottom Line? DEI Can Have an Impact on Your Practice"], T. Rowe Price</ref> 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.<ref>[https://hbr.org/2018/07/the-other-diversity-dividend "The Other Diversity Dividend"], Harvard Business Review, July-August 2018</ref>
* DEI helps companies be more flexible, and adapt to changing conditions more easily.<ref>[https://hbr.org/2023/05/how-investing-in-dei-helps-companies-become-more-adaptable "How Investing in DEI Helps Companies Become More Adaptable"] by David Michels, Kevin Murphy, and Karthik Venkataraman, Harvard Business Review, 2023 May 5</ref>

As a result, according to a survey performed in December 2023 by the consulting firm {{wpl|McKinsey & Company||:}}
* Companies with executive teams in the top quartile of gender diversity outperformed their peers by 39 percent.<ref name="deimckinsey">[https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-matters-even-more-the-case-for-holistic-impact#/ "Diversity matters even more: The case for holistic impact"], McKinsey and Company, 2023 December 5</ref>
* Companies with executive teams in the top quartile of ethnic diversity also outperformed their peers by 39 percent.<ref name="deimckinsey"/>
* More diversity in boards and executive teams was correlated to higher social and environmental impact scores.<ref name="deimckinsey"/>
* Companies with diverse leadership teams had greater overall involvement within their communities.<ref name="deimckinsey"/>
* Diverse leadership had a positive impact on a company's ethical disposition, community orientation, and the general image of a company.<ref name="deimckinsey"/>

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.<ref name="esgdei"/>

==See also==
*[[Wingnut welfare]] — what many DEI complainers in the media have used to get where they are.

==External links==
*{{wpa|Diversity, equity, and inclusion}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorist scapegoats]]
[[Category:Moral panics]]
[[Category:Political terms]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Snarl words]]
[[Category:Social justice]]

Categories: Business, Conspiracy theorist scapegoats, Moral panics, Political terms, Racism, Snarl words, Social justice