Abstract

I first read Professor Nancy Leong’s compelling book Identity Capitalists: The Powerful Insiders Who Exploit Diversity to Maintain Inequality when I was asked to provide a pre-publishing peer review. I was equal parts captivated and troubled by the numerous examples of identity capitalism (and its counterpart, identity entrepreneurialism) that I had never thought about, and perhaps even acquiesced in.

[...]

But in all honesty, I was troubled after my initial review of the manuscript because I had the sense that Leong was suggesting that diversity itself is bad, or at least that concentrating on diversity is bad. Upon my review of the published book, I was happy to see that my concerns were unwarranted. In the published book, Leong takes care to argue that it is not diversity itself that is bad—it is the fact that people and institutions capitalize on that diversity in a way that benefits the institution and harms the members of the groups that are supposed to be the beneficiaries of diversity efforts.

Accordingly, with that concern addressed, my second read of this book highlighted a different issue—what about disability? And, more specifically, what does it mean to include disability as part of diversity initiatives? I will use this essay to address that issue. But first, I will briefly summarize the book in Part I and provide my thoughts and impressions of the arguments Leong makes. Then in Part II, I will explore what identity capitalism means for disability diversity.

This abstract has been taken from the author's introduction.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

Publication Information

56 New England Law Review 153-174 (2022)

Comments

Invited contribution for the symposium on Nancy Leong's book, Identity Capitalists: The Powerful Insiders Who Exploit Diversity to Maintain Inequality held at New England Law | Boston.

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