Unmasking Diversity Management

Diversity is ubiquitous as a term and concept. While the initial aim was to take into account the interests of socially disadvantaged groups, diversity management should also contribute to understanding and using the diverse achievements and experiences of different people as potential. But can the everyday practice of Diversity Management still keep to these original goals - and could it ever? Johanna Degen uses interviews with experts to analyse the practice in German business from a critical social psychological perspective. Through the evaluation of subjective experiences of board members, CEOs, managers, employees and job seekers, it becomes clear that the practised Diversity Management only protects - unsurprisingly - organisational and capitalist interests. The author also shows how group dynamics emerge in which subjects are ultimately thrown back on themselves and forced to alienate themselves from their own values and from the problematic object of social inequality. By focussing on the question of why Diversity Management cannot function in this way, directions for solutions are also clarified.