New Study: DEI Trainings Make People See Racism Even if It Isn’t There

Maoist tactics lead to Maoist outcomes.

For instance, if you train people to see oppression everywhere, they will see it even where it does not exist.

According to a remarkable new study by the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs that have polluted schools and workplaces in recent years have had the ironic-yet-predictable tendency to foster both racism and authoritarianism.

Titled “Instructing Animosity: How DEI Pedagogy Produces the Hostile Attribution Bias,” the new study confirmed what many have long known.

In short, using excerpts from the writings of prominent “anti-racist” figures, such as Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo, the 13 researchers who collaborated on the study conducted psychological surveys that measured the impact of “anti-racist” training on the minds of those subjected to it.

The results proved troubling.

“Across all groupings, instead of reducing bias, they engendered a hostile attribution bias, amplifying perceptions of prejudicial hostility where none was present, and punitive responses to the imaginary prejudice,” the study read. “These results highlight the complex and often counterproductive impacts of pedagogical elements and themes prevalent in mainstream DEI training.”

The 24-page report presented evidence based on “anti-oppressive DEI educational materials frequently used in interventional and educational settings.”

This special focus on “anti-oppressive DEI” training has immense importance. It means, for instance, that not all scholarly discussion of inequality necessarily produces racism and authoritarianism. Indeed, the researchers themselves acknowledged as much.

Instead, by focusing on “anti-oppressive DEI” programs, the researchers highlighted the uniquely pernicious effects of “anti-racism” initiatives.

“The evidence presented in these studies reveals that while purporting to combat bias, some anti-oppressive DEI narratives can engender a hostile attribution bias and heighten racial suspicion, prejudicial attitudes, authoritarian policing, and support for punitive behaviors in the absence of evidence for a transgression deserving punishment,” the study read.

Moreover, “[a]lthough not addressed in the studies reported herein, it is also possible that these factors are mutually reinforcing and spread through social contagion.”

For a handy, comprehensive and expert analysis of the study, see the following thread on the social media platform X:

Huge new result:

Anti-racism trainings probably lead people to accuse others of racism even when they’re not racist.

That’s exactly the result of a new study on DEI trainings, with a special focus on the impacts of the works of Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo.

Let’s dig in🧵 pic.twitter.com/htpQRDqosN

— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) November 25, 2024

In sum, the study showed that anti-oppressive DEI training relies on Marxist assumptions and thus produces Marxist outcomes.

Whereas Christians believe in the sanctity of every individual soul, Marxists sort people into groups based on an oppressor-oppressed dichotomy.

(Anyone who doubts Marxism’s hostility to God should read Karl Marx’s poem, “Invocation of One in Despair.”)

Indeed, Marxist tyrants such as 20th-century Chinese Communist dictator Mao Zedong have always deliberately divided the people they ruled into groups of alleged oppressors and oppressed. Thus, with the dictator’s permission, the “oppressed” — i.e. those with resentment in their hearts — carried out vendettas against “oppressors.”

Small wonder, therefore, that some have compared modern woke ideologues to Mao’s Red Guards — radicalized youth who enforced his dictates.

Sadly, from heightened suspicion to authoritarian policing, anti-oppressive DEI training tends to produce results that Marxist tyrants love.

Fortunately, the new Rutgers University study, combined with other recent cultural developments, suggests that the tide has turned against DEI.

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.