Call for Papers

Organizations and labour markets continue to be characterized by inequalities related to, for example, (intersections of) class, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression (Amis et al., 2018; Bapuji et al., 2020; Benschop, 2021; Ozturk, 2011; Ozturk & Berber, 2022; Ozturk & Tatli, 2016; Ray 2019; Romani et al., 2021; Van Laer et al., 2021; Van Laer & Essers, 2023). Not only are inequalities profound and persistent, but they also take on novel and evolving forms. Globally, labour market inequalities are intensified by precarization and flexibilization, the digitalization and automation of work through the introduction of new technologies and platform-based employment, the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, and the (re-)emergence of right-wing ideologies, movements and political actors challenging even minor advances in the field of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) (Nkomo et al., 2019; Van Laer & Zanoni, 2020).
 
This reproduction of inequalities occurs against the backdrop of decades of organizational DEI policies, apparent support from business leaders and corporations for tackling inequalities, and legislative advances formally banning discrimination. Moreover, it takes place while countless academic debates, papers, and books have been devoted to exposing and analysing these very issues (Plotnikof et al., 2022; Nkomo, 2021; Nkomo et al., 2019).
 
It is therefore not surprising that scholars, activists, members of different marginalized communities and social movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo increasingly question the significance and legitimacy of current academic and professional practice in the field of DEI. Diversity management efforts often appear to be little more than branding exercises, through which organizations aim to present themselves as concerned about systemic inequalities yet consistently fail to tackle the ableist, heteronormative, gendered and racialized ways in which they operate and reproduce inequalities. Meanwhile, research in Organizational Studies often fails to fundamentally capture the way the labour market, organizations and the organization of work are institutionally designed in ways that reflect and reproduce historic, global inequalities and privilege certain employees (e.g., able-bodied, cis-hetero, male, white). Moreover, the knowledge it produces might even reflect and reproduce these very inequalities (Bell et al., 2021; Benschop, 2021; Christensen, 2021; Dobusch, 2021; Greedharry et al., 2021; Janssens & Zanoni, 2021; Liu, 2021; Nkomo et al., 2019; Plotnikof et al., 2022).
 
Research on DEI is therefore currently at an important crossroads. It can only remain relevant and live up to its proclaimed ambitions by developing theories that allow us to truly capture, question and challenge persistent and novel forms of inequalities, privilege and marginalization. In other words, it can only remain relevant if it can produce knowledge that actually contributes to fundamental social change. An important way to develop a contemporary radical agenda for research on DEI is connecting to current struggles of marginalized and Indigenous communities, social movements or activists against inequalities, privilege and marginalization. Another possible way to do so is by looking beyond the prevalent canon of mainstream and critical theories that currently dominate research on DEI in Organizational Studies, and draw on radical and transformative perspectives such as Black Marxism, Critical Race Theory, Postcolonial Theory, Queer Theory, Intersectional and Ecological Feminist Theory, or Critical Disability Studies.
 
The aim of this sub-theme is to offer a platform for radical dialogues on the state and future of the field of diversity, equity and inclusion and on the persistence of inequalities, privilege and marginalization in organizations (e.g., Pullen et al., 2021). We welcome theoretical, conceptual, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method papers dealing with topics including, but not limited to:

• The diverse ways in which inequalities, privilege and marginalization are reproduced in organizations and labour markets.

• The societal and labour market evolutions creating new forms of inequalities, privilege and marginalization.

• Analyses of inequalities, privilege and marginalization in organizations and labour markets that draw on radical insights from, for example, Black Marxism, Critical Race Theory, Postcolonial Theory, Queer Theory, Intersectional and Ecological Feminism, or Critical Disability Studies.

• The ways in which dominant approaches to DEI in organizations mask, reflect and reproduce inequalities, privilege and marginalization.

• The ways in which current (academic and societal) debates on DEI mask, reflect and reproduce inequalities, privilege and marginalization.

• Activist and Indigenous perspectives on (resistance to) inequalities, privilege and marginalization that can contribute to debates on DEI in organizations.

• Inequalities, privilege and marginalization in the Global South, which are often overlooked in academic debates on DEI.

• Analyses of inequalities, privilege and marginalization from other disciplines that can contribute to debates on these issues in organizations and labour markets.

• Analyses of inequalities, privilege and marginalization in organizations that trace their entanglement and interdependence with the multiple ecological crises we are facing.

References

• Amis, J.M., Munir, K.A., Lawrence, T.B., Hirsch, P., & McGahan, A. (2018): “Inequality, Institutions and Organizations.” Organization Studies, 39 (9), 1131–1152.
• Bapuji, H., Ertug, G., & Shaw, J.D. (2020): “Organizations and Societal Economic Inequality: A Review and Way Forward.” Academy of Management Annals, 14 (1), 60–91.
• Bell, M.P., Berry, D., Leopold, J., & Nkomo, S. (2021): “Making Black Lives Matter in academia: A Black feminist call for collective action against anti–blackness in the academy.” Gender, Work & Organization, 28 (S1), 39–57.
• Benschop, Y. (2021): “Grand Challenges, Feminist Answers.” Organization Theory, 2 (3), https://doi.org/10.1177/26317877211020323.
• Christensen, J.F. (2021): “Weird Ways of Normalizing. Queering Diversity Research through Norm Critique.” In: S.N. Just, A. Risberg & F. Villesèche (eds.): The Routledge Companion to Organizational Diversity Research Methods. London: Routledge, 59–72.
• Dobusch, L. (2021): “The inclusivity of inclusion approaches: A relational perspective on inclusion and exclusion in organizations.” Gender, Work & Organization, 28 (1), 379–396.
• Greedharry, M., Ahonen, P., & Tienari, J. (2021): “Colonialism as Context in Diversity Research.” In: S.N. Just, A. Risberg & F. Villesèche (eds.): The Routledge Companion to Organizational Diversity Research Methods. London: Routledge, 13–23.
• Janssens, M., & Zanoni, P. (2021): “Making Diversity Research Matter for Social Change: New Conversations Beyond the Firm.” Organization Theory, 2 (2), https://doi.org/10.1177/26317877211004603.
• Liu, H. (2021): “Diversity Beyond Whiteness. The Possibilities for Anti-​​Racist Diversity Research.” In: S.N. Just, A. Risberg & F. Villesèche (eds.): The Routledge Companion to Organizational Diversity Research Methods. London: Routledge, 24–35.
• Nkomo, S.M. (2021): “Reflections on the continuing denial of the centrality of ‘race’ in management and organization studies.” Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 40 (2), 212–224.
• Nkomo, S., Bell, M.P., Roberts, L.M., Joshi, A., & Thatcher, S.M.B. (2019): “Diversity at a Critical Juncture: New Theories for a Complex Phenomenon.” Academy of Management Review, 44 (3), 498–517.
• Ozturk, M.B. (2011): “Sexual orientation discrimination: Exploring the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual employees in Turkey.” Human Relations, 64 (8), 1099–1118.
• Ozturk, M.B., & Berber, A. (2022): “Racialised professionals’ experiences of selective incivility in organisations: A multi-level analysis of subtle racism.” Human Relations, 75 (2), 213–239.
• Ozturk, M.B., & Tatli, A. (2016): “Gender identity inclusion in the workplace: Broadening diversity management research and practice through the case of transgender employees in the UK.” International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27 (8), 781–802.
• Plotnikof, M., Muhr, S.L., Holck, L., & Just, S.N. (2022): “Repoliticizing diversity work? Exploring the performative potentials of norm-critical activism.” Gender, Work & Organization, 29 (2), 466–485.
• Pullen, A., Rhodes, C., McEwen, C., & Liu, H. (2021): “Radical politics, intersectionality and leadership for diversity in organizations.” Management Decision, 59 (11), 2553–2566.
• Ray, V. (2019): “A Theory of Racialized Organizations.” American Sociological Review, 84 (1), 26–53.
• Romani, L., Zanoni, P., & Holck, L. (2021): “Radicalizing diversity (research): Time to resume talking about class.” Gender, Work & Organization, 28 (1), 8–23.
• Van Laer, K., & Essers, C. (2023): “The Regulation of Religion by Secular Work Practice: Exploring Muslim Employees’ Performance of Religious Practice.” Journal of Management, first published online on March 28, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063231161344.
• Van Laer, K., Verbruggen, M., & Janssens, M. (2021): “Understanding and addressing unequal career opportunities in the ‘new career’ era: an analysis of the role of structural career boundaries and organizational career management.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32 (16), 3547–3567.
• Van Laer, K., & Zanoni, P. (2020): “Ethnicity, Race, and National Identity in Management and Organization Studies” In: J. Stone, D. Rutledge, P. Rizova & X. Hou (eds.): The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 487–506.
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