People Like Us David Brooks Summary

Do we only care about diversity in America when we’re amongst people of different races? In David Brooks, “People Like Us,” he explores this taboo topic, originally published this essay in the issue of the Atlantic Monthly, 2003. In the first few sentences of the essay he states that “maybe somewhere in this country there is a truly diverse neighborhood in which a black Pentecostal minister lives next to a white an anti-globalization activist, who lives next to an Asian short-order cook, who lives next to a professional golfer, who lives next to a postmodern literature professor and a cardiovascular surgeon” (p. 62). But he has never heard of such a neighborhood. During his essay, Brooks shares an array of examples that show diversity isn’t …show more content…
By using facts, such as numerical findings, Brooks challenges the division that people make up among themselves appearing in various situations on several justifications. Brooks uses various symbolic strategies to capture the pathos of the topic of diversity, homogeneity in the US ethos, and to reinforce his sadness to the audience that the ethnicity that once existed in the US is far from over, as it is a common belief, only that it is hidden in the present day the US. Most of Brooks’ argument is held up by his use of numerical findings that he has obviously investigated. For instance, he introduces the strategy of certain marketing companies that divides the nation into groups made up of their way of life, each group having a related essence or liking. One example given is the firm Claritas, “which breaks down the U.S. population. into sixty-two psycho-demographic groups, based on such factors as how much money people make, what they like to interpret and watch, and what products they have bought in the past” (64). Though constant with his expressiveness, it is this reliability that put a stop to his argument and taking it to another level. Brooks’ essay is one that is focused on the idea of generating attentiveness of the absent diversity in the United States. Instead of linking this to a number of other views such as the topic of fairness he brings up, he continues to offer his argument on how

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