Diversity, Racism, Democracy

4.0 credits · Undergraduate

This seminar will explore the relationship between diversity and democracy in American political thought and in the social sciences more broadly. In the US, understandings of what “diversity” means have fundamentally revolved around ideologies and ideas about “racial difference,” ie. racism. Diversity has at various points been constructed as a limit to democracy’s extensiveness, as an enriching and even necessary feature of democratic life, or as a source of friction that should be dampened through regulations and management. The course will explore historical and contemporary debates about diversity and democracy, treating as contributors to these debates social scientific studies that have sought to empirically assess the relationship.