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Meaning & use

tokenism

noun·Academicdisapproving

Last updated

UK/ˈtəʊkənɪzəm/
US/ˈtoʊkənɪzəm/
Usage warning: this word is disapproving. It shows a negative opinion, so take care with who and what you use it about.

Meaning

  1. noununcountabledisapproving

    The practice of including a small number of people from underrepresented groups only to appear fair, without giving them real power or making real changes.

    Grammar: Uncountable; used to criticize an action or policy as superficial.

    Patterns

    • accuse someone of tokenism
    • a gesture of tokenism
    • tokenism in something

    The company was accused of tokenism when it hired one woman for the board but ignored her ideas.

    Critics say the new diversity training is just tokenism because no policies have changed.

    She rejected the award as tokenism, saying it was meant to quiet her criticism.

Common combinations

accuse someone of tokenism
The mayor was accused of tokenism after appointing a single minority advisor with no staff.
a gesture of tokenism
Adding one disabled ramp without fixing the elevators felt like a gesture of tokenism.
tokenism in hiring
Tokenism in hiring leads to high turnover because new employees feel unsupported.
dismiss something as tokenism
Many activists dismissed the new committee as tokenism.

Synonyms and how they differ

window dressing
Use when the focus is on appearances rather than people; tokenism specifically involves including underrepresented individuals superficially.
box-ticking
British, informal; stresses meeting formal requirements without genuine commitment, while tokenism highlights the symbolic inclusion of people.

Opposites

genuine inclusionreal commitment

Word family

token adjective
Included only to give the appearance of diversity; e.g., a token woman on the panel.
tokenistic adjective
Describing an action that is merely symbolic and not sincere.

Commonly confused: tokenism or token?

tokenism vs token

A token can be a symbol or a voucher; tokenism is the practice of using such symbols to fake inclusion.

Practice

The board hired one young person from the community but gave them no vote. Critics called this ______.

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