| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| tokenism |
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| SYLLABICATION: | to·ken·ism |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  t  k -n z m |
| NOUN: | 1. The policy of making only a perfunctory effort or symbolic gesture toward the accomplishment of a goal, such as racial integration. 2. The practice of hiring or appointing a token number of people from underrepresented groups in order to deflect criticism or comply with affirmative action rules: “Tokenism does not change stereotypes of social systems but works to preserve them, since it dulls the revolutionary impulse” (Mary Daly).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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