WELCOME

We study the relationship between human diversity, development, and dignity in the United States and around the world. Our research aims to inform scholarship, policy and practice; and we seek to train future leaders and scholars through teaching, advising, and global outreach. Our work is motivated by the observation that increasingly diverse societies face both great challenges and opportunities:

  • On the one hand, real and perceived differences of ethnicity, race, religion, and national origin continue to be the basis for bias, discrimination, and conflict. Ethnic minorities, immigrants, and refugees face hate speech, political exclusion, and violence.
  • On the other hand, some of the world’s most productive organizations and societies identify diversity as core to their success. The mixing of people from around the world – and the sharing of art, culture, and ideas — is the hallmark of the world’s most prosperous urban centers.

Ultimately, in the face of diversity, different answers to the question of “who is us” will affect global responses to the world’s most pressing problems, including the climate emergency, epidemic threat, poverty, and insecurity.

At the MIT Global Diversity Lab, we intend to distill lessons about how to harness the value of diversity and to mitigate conflict through careful social science research, informed by work in a range of disciplines.

GDL Alumni in
the Spotlight

Darien Brown worked on climate-related research in the summer of 2020, as a visiting RA to MIT’s Global Diversity Lab from Tuskegee University. Following his employment with the Global Diversity Lab, Darien went on to work for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Securities…
Darien Brown worked on climate-related research in…

Intergroup
Avoidance: Evidence
from Israel

Earlier this week, Alex Scacco (WZB) presented ongoing research on intergroup contact and prejudice titled ‘Intergroup Avoidance: Observational and Experimental Evidence from…
Earlier this week, Alex Scacco (WZB)…

Migration in
Depression-
Era Texas

Last week, Professor Leonardo Arriola (UC Berkeley) shared great new research on migration in Depression-era Texas. The results indicate that local politics…
Last week, Professor Leonardo Arriola (UC…

Democracy
in South
Africa

The Journal of Democracy features work by GDL Director Evan Lieberman and GDL affiliate Rorisang Lekalake in their most recent issue. The…
The Journal of Democracy features work…

Violence
and Latino
Attitudes

Thanks again to Professor Angela Ocampo (University of Michigan) for presenting her project on US Latino attitudes towards policing and militarization in…
Thanks again to Professor Angela Ocampo…

Segregation
and Spatial
Inequality

Alice Xu (Yale) presented her project examining segregation and spatial externalities of inequality in urban Brazil. She finds socioeconomic diversity generates cooperation…
Alice Xu (Yale) presented her project…

Climate
Research
in the News

Research demonstrates that climate change disproportionately affects disadvantaged groups. How can we minimize the impact? GDL Director Evan Lieberman recently spoke with…
Research demonstrates that climate change disproportionately…
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