ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on 'big five' of diversity in western countries: gender, socio-economic status, ethnic minorities, religion and beliefs, and disability. In western countries, populations are becoming diverse. Striking a balance between recognizing the rights of diverse peoples and the need to maintain social cohesion constitutes a major challenge to all societies. Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett argues that inequalities erode the cohesion of a society, the degree to which individual citizens are involved in their society, and the degree of trust and empathy between citizens. School failure damages social cohesion and mobility, and imposes additional costs on public budgets to deal with the consequences - higher spending on public health and social support and greater criminality, among others. Around the world, there are many instances of children being segregated on the grounds of their gender, religion, ethnicity, socio-economic status, as well as their ability. The chapter also presents an overview of this book.
