As I walked through the aisles of La Sirena in Santo Domingo last September, searching for a traditional dress for my daughter, I suddenly noticed something striking: the distinctive accents of Venezuela, Cuba, and Colombia filled the air as people shopped around me. It felt almost as if I were in Miami. This experience made me reflect on diversity and how we’ve reached this point in history where globalization has become a tangible reality, reshaping our world.

Diversity is a hot topic, and it’s something I constantly research and learn about. So, it surprised me to find myself questioning what diversity truly means. It made me realize that many of us are experiencing a kind of culture shock due to the rapid changes around us. While we understand that these demographic shifts have been in the making for decades, it’s still astonishing to see how quickly they’ve occurred within our lifetimes.

The fact is, the world has gone global, and there’s no turning back. That’s why I believe it’s important to reflect on this phenomenon and define not only what diversity means in the strictest sense of the word, but also to consider its social context. This will allow us to articulate not just what diversity is, but what we aspire for it to be as we continue on our journey toward global citizenship.

What Is Diversity?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, diversity is “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements: variety.” Specifically, it refers to “the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.” It can also be defined as “an instance of being composed of differing elements or qualities: an instance of being diverse, a diversity of opinion.”

While the dictionary definition is accurate, we know that to truly understand diversity in social terms, we must go further. We need to examine diversity and inclusion through a social lens that illustrates what a healthy, fair, and inclusive diverse society looks like.

How I Define Diversity in Social Terms

As I considered the complexities of diversity and the controversies surrounding it, I decided to look up synonyms for the word. Two stood out to me: “heterogeneity” and “heterogeneousness,” both carrying similar meanings:

• Heterogeneity: The quality or state of being heterogeneous; composition from dissimilar parts; disparateness.
• Heterogeneousness: Composed of parts of different kinds; mixed.

These words resonated with me because they capture the essence of diversity in social contexts. When we think of something heterogeneous, we think of it as a unified entity—a mixture of different components that together form a whole.

With that in mind, here’s how I define diversity in the social context:

Social Diversity: A thriving community where individuals of different races, ethnicities, religious beliefs, socioeconomic statuses, languages, geographical origins, genders, and/or sexual orientations contribute their unique knowledge, backgrounds, experiences, and interests for the benefit of the entire community. In such a society, individuals practice daily understanding and respect for the diverse ideas, viewpoints, and perspectives of others who may be different from them. They recognize that, despite these differences, everyone shares and actively works toward achieving common goals for the community’s collective benefit.

As countries become more diverse, our understanding of social diversity is evolving and expanding, thanks in part to the digital media that connects us with people worldwide. I believe that by nurturing healthy, harmonious, and diverse societies, we will help the world thrive and create the fully functioning societies of the future.

What does diversity mean to you, and how would you describe social diversity?