Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Perpetuate Inequality: How Domination Systems Co-opt Even the Best of Intentions

Abstract

Riane Eisler frames the social realities of individuals through a domination-partnership continuum, and Johan Galtung studies peace through the development of systems of violence — direct, cultural, and structural — in perpetuation of domination. In this paper, I argue that a synthesis of both systems helps us understand inequality and racism in the United States. As such, I propose narrating U.S. history as a system of capital extraction and production, locating it within the domination/partnership continuum and enforced by systems of violence. Through this narration and location, I identify law as a tool that transforms imagined social constructions and converts them into social realities that support systems of domination. Specifically, I propose that given the U.S. history of domination, attempts to implement Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategies result in racial capitalism and perpetuate domination systems. Therefore, the undertaking of equity and inclusion requires a multi-disciplinary approach to reset the legal system and enforcement of justice grounded in values of healing and care.