Reaping the Rewards of Diversity: The Role of Identity Integration

How does diversity affect individuals and the groups in which they are embedded? This article examines this question using recent theory and research on Identity Integration (II). II refers to an individual’s perceptions about whether two distinct social identities, or social groups to which individuals belong, are viewed as compatible (high II) or not (low II). A review of extant research suggests that individuals with high II are better at simultaneously accessing multiple identities and identity-related knowledge and have improved well-being and social outcomes. Expanding on this work, we argue that individuals who have higher II, and social collectives that foster II within their members, are more likely to reap the benefits of diversity. In the last few years, much of the public discourse in American society has focused on the advantages or disadvantages of diversity in one manner or another (Schlesinger, 1992; Wolsko, Park, & Judd, 2006). For example, in higher education, there have been several court cases and legal referendums on the legality of using affirmative action as a basis of admissions. In the business world, female and racial minority workers remain under-represented long after federal equal employment opportunity laws were put in place, prohibiting employment discrimination (Ryan & Haslam, 2005). One of the top business news topics over the last 2 years has been Hewlett-Packard’s public firing of the high-profile chief executive Carly Fiorina. Many business experts, including Fiorina herself, attributed her fall to being a woman working in an industry highly dominated by male culture (Fiorina, 2006). More recently, the government, the media, and the American public at large have been consumed with issues concerning immigration, specifically on the questions of whether and how undocumented immigrants can be incorporated into American society. Central in all these issues is whether diversity is beneficial for the individual and the social collective at large. For instance, in the legal