The Trouble with the Trouble

“If dominant groups really saw privilege and oppression as unacceptable –if white people saw race as their issue, if nondisabled people saw ableism as their problem-privilege and oppression wouldn’t have much of a future.”

This is by far my favorite chapter in Privilege, Power and Difference. I can really relate to all of the concepts that Johnson talks about and feel he does a great job of relating these issues to actual business practices today. Johnson concludes that there are a few reasons why people do not actively engage in privilege issues; because they don’t know that it exists in the first place, because they don’t have to, because they think that its just a personal problem, because they want to hang on to their privileges, because they are prejudiced, or because they are afraid. Johnson believes that these reasons are the foundation as to why people ignore issues or privilege. He also concludes that there are two ways that the Human Resource Managers went about dealing with the issue; the first strategy they use is to appeal to the sense of decency and fairness that many privileged people have and the other is the business case often used by corporations and universities.

What most intrigued me about this reading was his discussion of the business case and how it relates to corporations. He argues that implementing diversity programs would cost less in the long run than losing talented and skillful workers who are uncomfortable in their environment. He also states that any attempts businesses make to address diversity are short lived because people are not dedicated to the cause.

While I completely agree with Johnson’s argument I do question how accurate his assumptions are about diversity in the workplace. Ever since Affirmative Action became a requirement I think tremendous strides have been taken to implement diversity programs and considerations into corporations. I recently attended the Owens Corning Diversity Leadership Conference where we addressed many of these same issues. Owens Corning does a fabulous job of creating programs that enhance diversity across their global organization and they do so for many reasons. As a generalization I don’t believe that organizations implement diversity programs ONLY for reasons as stated in the business case. I do agree that organizations are forced to implement these standards to stay competitive but I also believe that after implementation these standards have significantly improved the quality of life for their employees and for their customers. It is becoming a global trend to support diversity amongst employees because it makes the organization better as whole. I think that stating that these are the first programs to get cut in a budget crunch is a false assumption because many organizations now realize the overall importance of these programs to their success.

I really enjoyed this reading. I’m a business major and a lot of the topics that were discussed in this reading I have discussed before in my classes. Johnson also states, “Even when people can see the benefits somewhere off in the distance, they still need something to hold them to the vision and see them through the long journey from here to there. Appealing to lofty principles or the bottom line can’t do it, because those approaches too easily give way to forces and considerations that are powerful in the short run even if they are disastrous in the long run.”

I could not disagree with this statement more. Our society is based on bottom lines and lofty principles. Our economy would not be the same; we would not be such a wealthy and prosperous nation if we weren’t based on those things. Johnson does a great job making his argument but I disagree with some of his statements.