Leading Libraries Series: Leading for Inclusion

Challenges to inclusive practice

Dynamics of exclusion: formation of in-groups and out-groups

In-groups hold power and tend to follow mainstream norms and behaviours. If as a leader you keep close and relate more to people who are like you, people from different backgrounds will be excluded from relationships and opportunities that would benefit us all. This also means that power stays with mainstream groups, and a diverse range of thinking and perspectives go un-utilised, having a negative impact on innovation, performance and morale.

How in-group beliefs create prejudice

In 1968, Jane Elliot an American diversity educator and teacher, devised a controversial racism experiment with school children – the brown eyes and blue eyes experiment.

Within a school class she created an in-group (children with brown eyes) and an out-group (children with blue eyes). Children in the in-group were given more respect, privilege and praise.

Quite quickly this group of children had raised self-esteem and academically outperformed their counterparts in the out-group, many of which were previously high performers in the class.

Through this experiment, Elliot showed not only the power of privilege and of being part of the mainstream in-group, but also how quickly we can learn prejudice. She related this back to racism and racial inequalities and the detrimental impact these are having on the outcomes and opportunities available to people of colour.

The principles of this experiment can be applied to other minority characteristics and groups. Although this experiment was carried out in 1968, and the ethics of her practice have been questioned, the learning is still relevant today.

For a closer look at Elliot’s work, you can watch the video A Class divided.

Understanding our own in-groups and out-groups

We respond differently to people who are in our in-groups and out-groups. The diagrams show some of the differences between how we feel and behave.

How we feel towards people in our in-group and out-group

How we behave towards people in our in-group and out-group

Individual reflection

Think about your 5 closest friends and your 5 closest colleagues.

• How diverse is this group?
• What does this tell you about your in-group preferences?
• At work, who might be benefiting or missing out because of your in-group preferences?
• What does this tell you about your out-group preferences?
• What could you do to extend your in-group? What would be the benefit of this?

Continue to: The impact of exclusion