The Diversity Ideology in the Business World: A New Oppression for a New Age

Diversity has become a common term in the business world. But, what exactly does it mean to be diverse? In this article, I examine the notion of diversity in the business world and explore how, in the wane of progressive programs such as affirmative action and organizational multiculturalism policie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCritical sociology Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 541 - 556
Main Author Embrick, David G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2011
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Affirmative Action
Corporate culture
Cultural Pluralism
Employment discrimination
Enterprises
Equality
Ideological influences
Ideologies
Ideology
Managers
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Pluralism
Race
Racial discrimination
Racial inequality
Rights
Sex
Sex discrimination
Sexual Inequality
Sociology
U.S.A
United States of America
Workplaces
United States > US
diversity
diversity ideology
multiculturalism
affirmative action
gender discrimination
racial discrimination
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Summary:Diversity has become a common term in the business world. But, what exactly does it mean to be diverse? In this article, I examine the notion of diversity in the business world and explore how, in the wane of progressive programs such as affirmative action and organizational multiculturalism policies diversity has become the post-civil rights mantra of equality in America. Using interview data from upper-level managers in Fortune 1000 companies I argue that diversity ideology has enabled many organizations to curtail deeper investigations into the gender and racial inequalities that continue to persist in the workplace. I find that managers tend to exclude race and gender in their definitions of diversity. Further, I find that most managers, even while claiming that their companies were interested in promoting diversity, could not effectively elaborate on their company’s diversity policies or practices.
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ISSN:0896-9205
1569-1632
DOI:10.1177/0896920510380076