You don’t need me to tell you that affirmative action is still one of the most controversial and divisive issues in American society. I am on record as saying that I support affirmative action as a means to achieve racial/ethnic diversity within a particular institution. Of course, many people feel differently and I respect their opinion in opposition.

Recently, the New York Times interviewed Scott E. Page, a professor of complex systems, political science, and economics at the University of Michigan, on his new book The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies in which he argues that programs such as affirmative action that increase diversity in any organizational setting are ultimately beneficial for society (quotes from Prof. Page):

Diverse groups of people bring to organizations more and different ways of seeing a problem and, thus, faster/better ways of solving it.

People from different backgrounds have varying ways of looking at problems, what I call “tools.” The sum of these tools is far more powerful in organizations with diversity than in ones where everyone has gone to the same schools, been trained in the same mold and thinks in almost identical ways.

The problems we face in the world are very complicated. Any one of us can get stuck. If we’re in an organization where everyone thinks in the same way, everyone will get stuck in the same place. . . . [Affirmative action is] a flat-out good because, as I said earlier, it makes everything we do more powerful.

From what I hear, Prof. Page is using the idea that diversity and heterogeneity in any organization leads to innovation and ultimately produces benefits the entire organization to support the fundamental principles behind affirmative action. He also argues that diversity can come in many different forms, not just simple racial/ethnic identity.

From what it sounds like, Prof. Page is arguing in support of holistic admissions, something that I posted about earlier that used Oregon State University’s admissions guidelines as a model for how affirmative action can be put into place for everyone’s benefit, not just underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

Prof. Page’s book may or may not lead people to change their mind in support of affirmative action, but at the least, it is another resource that supporters like me can use to bolster the case for affirmative action.