Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Reviewed Work(s): The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups,
Firms, Schools, and Societies by Scott E. Page
Review by: Will Carrington Heath
Source: The Independent Review, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Summer 2008), pp. 123-126
Published by: Independent Institute
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24562183
Accessed: 25-10-2019 17:16 UTC
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Independent Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
The Independent Review
This content downloaded from 34.192.2.131 on Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:16:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Book Reviews * 123
JAMES A. MONTANYE
Falls Church, Virginia
During World War II, the British brought together approximately twelve thousand
people at Bletchley Park, near London, to crack the German Enigma code, which they
did—not once, but twice. Francis Crick and James D. Watson discovered the mo
lecular structure of nucleic acid, the double helix, in 1953. And in 1962 Ringo Stan
joined three other young men from Liverpool, England, in a pop music group that
would become the most accomplished rock-n-roll band in history. What do all of
these events have in common?
In each case, diversity trumped ability. No one person would have cracked the
Enigma code even once, let alone twice. Could Crick have discovered the double helix
without Watson, or Watson without Crick? Most historians of science would say not.
The Beatles were certainly more than the sum of four moderately accomplished
musicians. You get the picture. In all of these examples, people succeeded not by
This content downloaded from 34.192.2.131 on Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:16:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
124 * BOOK REVIEWS
This content downloaded from 34.192.2.131 on Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:16:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Book Reviews ♦ 125
Does Page advocate the "diversity" of political correctness? Here again, the
casual or the ideological reader might be given to false inference. As usual, Page treats
the issue with caution, fairness, and a much needed dose of clear thinking.
Diversity in the context of political correctness means different things to differ
ent people, of course, but those who equate diversity with feel-good notions of
inclusiveness and sensitivity or "payback" affirmative-action policies should pay special
attention to Page's discussion of identity diversity, which refers to differences related
to the racial, cultural, religious, gender, and other "identities" into which we sort
ourselves (and each other). This type of diversity is not, strictly speaking, the sort of
cognitive diversity formally modeled in the logic of diversity. Page carefully points out
that for identity diversity to operate positively in his analysis, it must correlate with
cognitive diversity. Whether identity diversity thus results in better group perfor
mance is another one of those empirical questions. Across many studies, the evidence
is that on average the performance of identity-diverse groups and that of homoge
neous groups is roughly the same. However, studies also show that in situations where
creativity and innovation are especially important, identity-diverse groups do often
excel.
But the ledger has two sides, and there must be offsetting entries in the negative
column if average performance turns out to be no better for identity-diverse groups.
Identity diversity sometimes leads to problems with group dynamics to the detriment
This content downloaded from 34.192.2.131 on Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:16:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
126 ♦ BOOK REVIEWS
In Globalization and Its Enemies, Daniel Cohen deals with an important and tim
topic, but he does so inadequately. The title leads one to believe that Cohen w
defend globalization against its enemies or identify those enemies and describe t
This content downloaded from 34.192.2.131 on Fri, 25 Oct 2019 17:16:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms