In the arts, employment, and politics, tokenism is a policy or practice of limited inclusion or artistic and/or political representation of members of a traditionally marginalized group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices rather than discrimination, intentional or not. Typical examples in real life and fiction include purposely including a member of a minority race (such as a black character in a mainly white cast, or a woman in a traditionally male universe) into a group. Classically, token characters have some reduced capacity compared to the other characters and may have bland or inoffensive personalities so as to not be accused of stereotyping negative traits. Alternatively, their differences may be overemphasized or made "exotic" and glamorous.[1]
Tokenism can also be used in newspapers and other media. Newspapers will often only criticise a minority group by using a pundit who is a member of that minority group. An Asian columnist arguing that immigration is too high, or a black pundit arguing that affirmative action is wrong could be considered [the use of] a token minority.[2]
A token character is a character in a work of fiction who only exists to achieve the minimum compliance with assumed normality for the environment described in the story.
A token character can also be used by writers to pay lip service to rules or standards, when they otherwise have no intention of doing so, such as by obeying anti-racism policies by including a token ethnic minority character who—despite being present often—has no function in the overall plot, does little or nothing, and is often a stereotyped character. South Park satirizes this by having a black character named "Token Black", who has anti-stereotypical characteristics.
In fiction, token characters may represent various groups, which vary from the norm (usually white/heterosexual/physically attractive, frequently male), and are otherwise excluded from the story. They can be based on ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, Asian or Jewish), or be overweight or otherwise conventionally unattractive, non-heterosexual or a female character in a male-dominated cast. Token characters will usually be relegated to the background. Such a character may also be disposed of relatively early in the story in order to enhance the drama while "conserving" the normal characters.[3][4]
In many modern films and television shows, the inclusion of token characters is frequently and implausibly seen in various historical settings where a person's race or ethnicity would usually be immediately noticed. Typically other characters tend to treat the token characters as though they were not concerned with their race or ethnicity. Notable exceptions to this practice include stories based in history and stories that address racism.
In politics, allegations of tokenism may occur when a political party puts forward candidates from under-represented groups, such as women or racial minorities, in races that the party has little or no chance of winning, while making limited or no effort to ensure that such candidates have similar opportunity to win the nomination in races where the party is safe or favoured.[5] The end result of such an approach is that the party's slate of candidates maintains the appearance of diversity—but members of the majority group remain overrepresented in the party's caucus after the election, because the more competitive nature of the candidate selection process in winnable seats continues to favour them over other groups.
However, political parties which actively implement strategies to increase the number of women and minority candidates in competitive races may conversely be accused of engaging in affirmative action or reverse discrimination against the majority group.[6]