Social regulation and diversity management: A comparative study of France, Canada and the UK

Much of the diversity management debate is trapped in a binary opposition between regulation and voluntarism. We argue for an evidence-based approach and illustrate this by offering a context-sensitive overview of workforce diversity debate and practice in three countries: France, Canada and the UK. We use Reynaud's social regulation theory in order to challenge the assumption that there is a clear separation between regulation and voluntarism. The article unpacks the complexities and ambivalences of regulation of workforce diversity, which is generated by multiple influences.