Call for Papers

Across the world, there is growing resistance to and mobilization against gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in theory and practice; i.e. the “anti-gender” and the “anti-woke discourse” also come with attacks on academics engaged with feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory. Right-wing populism, discourses of nationalism and xenophobia have entangled with orthodox religious discourses on the so-called essential gender norms and roles and taken the form of systematized attacks on women and LGBTIQ+ rights (Paternotte & Kuhar, 2017, Paternotte & Verloo, 2021; Petö, 2016).
 
With an impetus to push back against the so-called “gender ideology,” that is, the alleged claim that proponents of gender equality, diversity and inclusion are distorting the society and threatening the “family”, anti-gender actors are well organized. They aim at the erosion of rights, i.e. abortion rights, LGBTIQ+ rights; the erosion of legal, normative frameworks, i.e. the Istanbul Convention. They oppose institutionalized gender studies, call for closure of gender studies departments and programs, organize (social media) attacks on individual academics and researchers as well as academic fields and critical theoretical traditions, such as critical race theory, queer theory, and multiple forms of feminist theory.
 
As the socio-political context in which organizations are embedded plays an important role in shaping diversity, equity and inclusion in organizations (Nkomo et al., 2019; Van Laer & Janssens, 2011), these developments have important implications for the work on organizational change. For instance, democratic backsliding, anti-gender discourses and neoliberalism foster mobilization and push backs against gender equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education institutions (Göker & Polatdemir, 2022).
 
These trends can have serious material consequences, and potentially contribute to, reproduce, and increase existing structural inequalities in organizations and the labor market (Amis et al., 2018; Bapuji et al., 2020; Nkomo et al., 2019; Ray, 2019); can contribute to the backlash against DEI initiatives (Lee, 2023; Linnehan & Konrad, 1999; van den Brink & Benschop, 2018; Van Laer & Zanoni, 2020) or can lead to the implementation of superficial DEI initiatives (Plotnikof et al., 2022). For example, these mobilizations often interact – on discursive and material levels – with exclusionary discourses, discriminatory practices and resistance to diversity, equity and inclusion, including xenophobic sentiments, homophobia/transphobia or, conservative sentiments towards gender and sexuality. While they can hamper diversity, equity and inclusion policies, these developments can also lead to cooptation – the apparent embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion by mainstream actors, although often in superficial ways, or attach to femo-nationalist discourses that exclude migrants or to anti-LGBTIQ+ discourses that rest on a binary understanding of gender.
 
In addition, politics of conservatism is also manifested in the essentialist discourses and practices of minority and subordinated groups that are making claims to hegemonic understandings of group identity and values which in turn ignore heterogeneity and intersectionality. It is therefore crucial for critical organization studies to acknowledge and explore these developments and the power processes underlying them in organizations, to develop strategies to counter them, and to organize for solidarity and change.
 
Across different cultural and political contexts, critical scholarship investigates how difference is constructed and perceived, further layering the study of intersectionality (Mahadevan et al., 2023). Critical scholarship herewith provides a systematic critique of dominant capitalist, patriarchal and racialized forms of organizing that perpetuate intersectional inequalities (Benschop, 2021). The aim of this sub-theme is to create a platform for the exchange and proliferation of critical normative and empirical perspectives on the theory and practice of diversity, equity and inclusion and the future of the field in a context of “difficult times”. We welcome local, regional, cross-cultural and transnational perspectives; critical methodologies and theoretical, qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods papers which address, but are not limited to the following topics:

• The diverse ways in which right-wing populism, nationalism, democratic backsliding, authoritarianism across the world contribute to structural inequalities and the proliferation of old and new forms of discrimination and exclusion in organizations and the labor market.

• Analyses of histories of backlash to (gender) equality, diversity and inclusion; comparisons of old and new forms of mobilizations against gender equality, diversity and inclusion; continuations and ruptures as well as similarities and differences across organizational and socio-political contexts.

• Analyses of online and offline mobilizations against DEI programs; similarities and differences across contexts in their actors, discourses and practices.

• The ways in which politics of conservatism is manifested in material and discursive practices of groups targeted in DEI initiatives; the analysis of interactions of neoliberalism and neoconservatism in shaping anti-DEI practices on multiple levels.

• The ways in which organizations shape DEI programs in response to backlash; i.e. through the construction of superficial, socially acceptable DEI programs palatable for majorities.

• Analyses of intersectionality in the context of the entanglements of xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-gender, homophobic, transphobic discourses and mobilizations.

• Exploration of strategies of resistance and resilience of EDI practitioners as well as activist scholars in the face of increasing attacks and challenges to their work.

• Analyses of formal and informal, conventional and non-conventional, online and offline practices of solidarity-building in and between organizations against anti-gender, anti-EDI mobilizations.

• Identification of innovative interventions and repertories, e.g. in arts and other creative initiatives.

• Investigations of the effectiveness of strategies and solidarities on organizational and across-organizational and across-sectoral levels.

• Intersectional activism and trans-local, transregional and transnational approaches to solidarity-building in difficult times.

References

• Amis, J., Munir, K., Lawrence, T.B., Hirsch, P., & McGahan, A. (2018): “Inequality, Institutions and Organizations.” Organization Studies, 39 (9), 1131–1152.

• Bapuji, H., de Bakker, F.G.A., & Spicer, A. (2020): “Business and Society Research in Times of the Corona Crisis.” Business & Society, 59 (6), 1067–1078.
• Benschop, Y.W.M. (2021): “Grand Challenges, Feminist Answers.” Organization Theory, 2 (3); https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/26317877211020323.
• Göker, Z.G., & Polatdemir, A. (2022): “The Quest for Gender Equality in Universities at the Crossroads of Neoliberal and Anti-gender Pressures: The Case of Turkey.” Globalisation, Societies and Education, 1–13; https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2022.2121690.
• Lee, J. (2023): “A critical review and theorization of workplace backlash: Looking back and moving forward through the lens of social dominance theory.” Human Resource Management Review, 33 (1); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2022.100900.
• Linnehan, F., & Konrad, A.M. (1999): “Diluting Diversity: Implications for Intergroup Inequality in Organizations.” Journal of Management Inquiry, 8 (4), 399–414.
• Mahadevan, J., Primecz, H., & Mills, A.J. (2023): “Beyond Politics of Difference: Intersectionality across Time and Place.” Culture and Organization, 29 (3), 191–196.
• 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, 498–517.
• Paternotte, D., & Kuhar, R. (2017): “’Gender ideology’ in Movement: Introduction.” In: R. Kuhar & D. Paternotte (eds.): Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing against Equality. London: Rowman & Littlefield International, 1–22.
• Paternotte, D., & Verloo, M. (2021): “De-democratization and the Politics of Knowledge: Unpacking the Cultural Marxism Narrative.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 28 (3), 556–578.
• Petö, A. (2016): “Challenges for Gender Studies amidst the Surge in Anti-Gender Movements.” AWSS Newsletter, 5 (1); https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/72983.
• Plotnikof, M., Muhr, S.L., Holck, L., & Just, S. (2022): “Repoliticizing diversity work? Exploring the performative potentials of norm-critical activism.” Gender, Work & Organization, 29 (2), 466–485.
• Ray, V. (2019): “A Theory of Racialized Organizations.” American Sociological Review, 84 (1) 26–53.
• Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2018): “Gender Interventions in the Dutch Police Force: Resistance as a Tool for Change?” Journal of Change Management, 18 (3), 181–197.
• Van Laer, K., & Janssens, M. (2011): “Ethnic Minority Professionals’ Experiences with Subtle Discrimination in the Workplace.” Human Relations, 64 (9), 1203–1227.
• 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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