How do diversity experiences affect the process of learning to become citizens? We contend that students who interact with diverse students in classrooms and in the broad campus environment will be more motivated and better able to participate in a heterogeneous and complex society. The congeniality of democracy and diversity, however, is not self-evident. Neither representational nor participatory conceptions of democracy deal with the issues raised by multicultural educators, namely the cultural dimensions of citizenship and the central tension of modern social life — the tension between unity and diversity (Parker, 1996, p. 104). Critics of multicultural education worry that a focus on identities based on race, ethnicity, gender, class or other social categorizations are inimical to the unity needed for democracy. Critics of democratic citizenship education that ignores these small publics in an exclusive emphasis on a single unity worry that young people will be ill-prepared to be citizens and leaders of an increasingly ethnically and racially diverse nation.
This tension between diversity and unity, however politically charged it is in contemporary United States, is not new. Saxonhouse in Fear of Diversity (1992) describes how pre-Socratic playwrights, Plato, and Aristotle dealt with the fear that “differences bring on chaos and thus demand that the world be put into an orderly pattern.” Plato, Saxonhouse says, envisioned a city in which unity and harmony would be based on the shared characteristics of a homogeneous citizenry (though even he warned against striving for too much unity). It was Aristotle, Saxonhouse (1992, p. 235) argues, who was able to overcome the fear and welcome the diverse. “Aristotle embraces diversity as the others had not.” Aristotle, according to Saxonhouse, saw the city as made up of parts — families, owners, lovers — that would have different and often conflicting ideas about the good and the bad, the just and unjust. She concludes that anyone interested in politics must study, analyze, and incorporate those parts (Saxonhouse, 1992, p. 235). Pitkin and Shumer (1982) stress that what makes democracy work, in Aristotle’s political theory, are two elements that bring those parts and multiple perspectives into political discussion: equality among citizens who are peers (admittedly only free men at the time, not women and not slaves), and relationships that are governed by freedom and discussion under rules of civil discourse. In this framework, multiplicity of perspectives and discourse over conflict, rather than homogeneity and a single, unified perspective, help democracy thrive (Pitkin & Shumer, 1982).
Sociologist Coser (1975) emphasizes similar conditions in a theory of complex social structures. Complex social structures are social situations that are not familiar to us and are often quite discrepant with our past lives. Complex social structures are composed of many rather than a few people who have different, even contradictory, expectations of us. She argues that unfamiliarity, discrepancy, multiplicity, and potential conflict in the complex social structure require people to pay attention to the social situation and challenge them to think or act in new ways. People develop what Coser calls an outward orientation. She showed that people who function in complex social structures develop a deeper understanding of the social world and are better able to function as effective citizens.
Many cognitive developmental theories also emphasize discontinuity and discrepancy. Cognitive growth is fostered when individuals encounter experiences and demands that they cannot completely understand or meet, and thus must work to comprehend and master the new (or at least not completely familiar) and discontinuous demands. Piaget (1971,1975/1985) calls this optimal learning situation one of disequilibrium. Drawing on these theories, Ruble (1994), a developmental psychologist, theorizes that cognitive growth (and other developmental changes) will be stimulated by developmental transitions, such as going to college or taking a new job. Transitions are significant moments for development because they put individuals into new situations involving uncertainty and requiring new knowledge.
The University of Michigan’s racial and ethnic composition presents discrepancy and discontinuity from the pre-college backgrounds of most of its students. At the time (during the 1990s) that the research reported here was conducted, approximately 90 percent of the White students and 50 percent of the African American students attending the university had grown up in neighborhoods and attended high schools that were racially and ethnically homogenous (Gurin, G. 1992). Because of its discrepancy from their past experiences, racial and ethnic diversity offers students at the University of Michigan (and many other institutions that draw largely from racially/ethnically segregated locations) an opportunity for cognitive growth and preparation for citizenship.
This tension between diversity and unity, however politically charged it is in contemporary United States, is not new. Saxonhouse in Fear of Diversity (1992) describes how pre-Socratic playwrights, Plato, and Aristotle dealt with the fear that “differences bring on chaos and thus demand that the world be put into an orderly pattern.” Plato, Saxonhouse says, envisioned a city in which unity and harmony would be based on the shared characteristics of a homogeneous citizenry (though even he warned against striving for too much unity). It was Aristotle, Saxonhouse (1992, p. 235) argues, who was able to overcome the fear and welcome the diverse. “Aristotle embraces diversity as the others had not.” Aristotle, according to Saxonhouse, saw the city as made up of parts — families, owners, lovers — that would have different and often conflicting ideas about the good and the bad, the just and unjust. She concludes that anyone interested in politics must study, analyze, and incorporate those parts (Saxonhouse, 1992, p. 235). Pitkin and Shumer (1982) stress that what makes democracy work, in Aristotle’s political theory, are two elements that bring those parts and multiple perspectives into political discussion: equality among citizens who are peers (admittedly only free men at the time, not women and not slaves), and relationships that are governed by freedom and discussion under rules of civil discourse. In this framework, multiplicity of perspectives and discourse over conflict, rather than homogeneity and a single, unified perspective, help democracy thrive (Pitkin & Shumer, 1982).
Sociologist Coser (1975) emphasizes similar conditions in a theory of complex social structures. Complex social structures are social situations that are not familiar to us and are often quite discrepant with our past lives. Complex social structures are composed of many rather than a few people who have different, even contradictory, expectations of us. She argues that unfamiliarity, discrepancy, multiplicity, and potential conflict in the complex social structure require people to pay attention to the social situation and challenge them to think or act in new ways. People develop what Coser calls an outward orientation. She showed that people who function in complex social structures develop a deeper understanding of the social world and are better able to function as effective citizens.
Many cognitive developmental theories also emphasize discontinuity and discrepancy. Cognitive growth is fostered when individuals encounter experiences and demands that they cannot completely understand or meet, and thus must work to comprehend and master the new (or at least not completely familiar) and discontinuous demands. Piaget (1971,1975/1985) calls this optimal learning situation one of disequilibrium. Drawing on these theories, Ruble (1994), a developmental psychologist, theorizes that cognitive growth (and other developmental changes) will be stimulated by developmental transitions, such as going to college or taking a new job. Transitions are significant moments for development because they put individuals into new situations involving uncertainty and requiring new knowledge.
The University of Michigan’s racial and ethnic composition presents discrepancy and discontinuity from the pre-college backgrounds of most of its students. At the time (during the 1990s) that the research reported here was conducted, approximately 90 percent of the White students and 50 percent of the African American students attending the university had grown up in neighborhoods and attended high schools that were racially and ethnically homogenous (Gurin, G. 1992). Because of its discrepancy from their past experiences, racial and ethnic diversity offers students at the University of Michigan (and many other institutions that draw largely from racially/ethnically segregated locations) an opportunity for cognitive growth and preparation for citizenship.
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