Why Do DEI Initiatives Help Everyone? A Social Psychology Podcast Episode.

In recent years, DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) Initiatives have become a very hot political issue with certain groups suggesting DEI practices discriminate against straight white people by making it harder for them to thrive. In reality, this isn’t the truth because DEI practices help everyone regardless of your sexuality and race. This means that DEI initiatives also help straight white men unlike certain groups and political figures claim. Therefore, in this social psychology podcast episode, you’re going to learn about why do DEI initiatives help everyone, what are DEI initiatives and most importantly, why DEI initiatives are worth protecting. If you enjoy learning about social psychology and discrimination then this is a brilliant episode for you.

Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Social Psychology: A Guide To Social and Cultural Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca.

Why Do DEI Initiatives Help Everyone?

Unfortunately, in recent years, there has been an increase in people thinking that DEI initiatives mean that certain people benefit from them (these are social others) and it doesn’t help them as an individual. This leads some people to believe that DEI initiatives eat up organisational opportunities and resources that are limited, so once these opportunities and resources are gone then there is nothing left for anyone else. At first, I understand this sort of thinking because we are often led to believe that opportunities and resources are finite and really hard to get a hold of, but the people telling us this are the people in power. It is in their interest to make us believe this idea. These are the same people who have far more opportunity, wealth and power than most of us can even imagine.

In addition, this kind of fixed pie or zero-sum belief creates backlash and resistance to DEI initiatives but this thinking doesn’t reflect the reality. In reality, good, well-thought-out DEI initiatives are designed to expand the opportunities and resources within an organisation so there is enough for everyone.

There is no fixed pie. There are no limited resources and no one is going to be disadvantaged by DEI initiatives.

Moreover, diversity and inclusion apply to everyone because it encompasses everything. Including your sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, race, socioeconomic status, mental health experiences and any other meaningful characteristics. This means that straight white men and women are a part of diversity and inclusion.

Another way to think about DEI initiatives is that as of 2024, there were over 340 million people living in the United States and 50% of them were aged over 40 and 59% of them were white and 41% of them were non-white. This means that good DEI initiatives are designed to make sure that there are just as many resources for white people than non-white people. The same goes for the 7% of LGBT+ people in the United States compared to the 93% of heterosexual people.

Good DEI initiatives are designed to make sure everyone benefits and everyone is supported. No one is left behind regardless of whether you’re white, black, straight, gay, whatever.

Typically, whenever people think about DEI initiatives, we tend to think about hiring policies and admission policies. However, DEI initiatives are actually a lot broader than that because similar to curb cuts (or dropped kerbs if you’re in the United Kingdom like me), these allow and help everyone to cross the street and get back up onto the pavement (or sidewalk for you Americans). These dropped kerbs are helpful for people with mobility challenges, people in wheelchairs, children riding bikes, people pushing push chairs and delivery people pushing round large carts for deliveries. These dropped kerbs help everyone who uses them.

DEI initiatives are the exact same.

As a result, people who have had positive and negative mental health experiences, they both benefit from the DEI initiatives of increasing natural lighting in the workplace. We know that natural lighting increases mental health, so this is one example of a DEI initiative helping everyone else. Another example is reducing speeded tests in jobs where speed isn’t needed. This makes it so much easier for neurodiverse people and better yet, it means it reduces stress for neurotypical people. Is a DEI initiative that reduces stress for everyone, a bad thing? Of course not.

A final example of a DEI initiative that benefits everyone is gender-neutral bathrooms. It means everyone has the choice and comfort to use whatever bathroom they want. And as a personal example, once I really needed a toilet in the psychology building at my university but all the male toilets were either being cleaned or Out of Order and I seriously did not want to go to another building. I don’t think I would have lasted that long. Thankfully, I knew where the Gender-Neutral bathrooms were so I was saved.

Social Psychology Conclusion

Ultimately, there are a lot of benefits to DEI initiatives because they truly do help everyone, regardless of your sexuality, gender, race, etc. These DEI initiatives help to improve productivity and the mental health of all workers and at worst, these DEI initiatives help some people and harm no one. This is why DEI efforts will never be a zero-sum game and there will

always be enough resources and opportunities for everyone.

Therefore, at the end of this podcast episode, I would suggest that whenever you hear

someone, be it a friend, a family member or a politician, saying that DEI initiatives are threatening your community and they are making you worse off. Critically think about their so-called claim. Question whether they’re telling the truth or not because if DEI initiatives are cut back and if you get rid-off then everyone will be impacted negatively.

There are no ifs, buts, maybes about this. DEI initiatives help everyone so they have to be protected. Otherwise, everyone gets harmed.

I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode.

If you want to learn more, please check out:

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Social Psychology: A Guide To Social and Cultural Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca.

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Have a great day.

Social Psychology References and Further Reading

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/working-together/202403/dei-initiatives-include-you-whoever-you-are

Iyer, A. (2022). Understanding advantaged groups' opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies: The role of perceived threat. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 16(5), e12666.

Legate, N., & Weinstein, N. (2024). Motivation science can improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17456916231186410.

Martinez, L. R., Smith, N. A., Ortiz, S. D., Korsak, M., & Day, T. (2024). Minding the gap: Mindful inclusion of opposing perspectives to protect DEI initiatives. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 17(4), 490-494.

Roberson, Q. (2025). How Integrating DEI Into Strategy Lifts Performance. MIT Sloan Management Review, 66(2), 62-65.

Rosa, J. M. The Critical Importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and the Detrimental Impact of Anti-DEI Policies.

Stille, G., & Simon, T. (2023). Make DEI part of your employee benefits DNA. Benefits Quarterly, 39(1), 47-51.

United States Census Bureau (2024). Quick facts. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045223

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