Here is a new publication from our OOW section member:

Wilcox, Annika. 2025. “Conforming Critical Diversity: Voicing Diversity for Equity in an Organizational Inequality Regime.” Sociological Focus 58(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2024.2433524

ABSTRACT: Diversity is a contested notion: it can be framed “uncritically,” as all differences that benefit privileged groups, or “critically,” as categorical inequalities that must be addressed to advance equity. While uncritical diversity is broadly legitimated, critical diversity is often socially suppressed, particularly in racialized and gendered workplaces. Prior research elucidates how organizational actors advance uncritical (e.g. colorblind) diversity yet pays little attention to how everyday employees voice critical diversity in white-male-dominated work contexts that politicize matters of inequality. I address this concern via analysis of an extreme case: a large, U.S.-based technology company. Drawing on in-depth interviews with employees, I demonstrate that individuals strategically negotiate critical and uncritical meanings of diversity in conversation by conforming critical diversity, which involves (1) defining diversity broadly yet centering categories of inequality, (2) offering critical and uncritical justifications of diversity, and (3) couching critical justifications in individualistic language. These practices uphold status-quo-reproducing diversity narratives while also generating more critical arguments than expected based on prior research. Results suggest the importance of studying how the interactional spaces of organizations and workplaces constrain and enable individuals’ discussions of diversity. If organizations redefined cultural norms governing diversity-related conversations, they might see greater results from formal diversity initiatives.

Dominguez, Rachael & Ueno, Koji. (2025, online first). “Organizational constraints on campus support programs: A case for former foster care youth.” Children and Youth Services Review, 168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.108036

Abstract: Campus support programs provide targeted services to groups of students throughout their time in college. Some institutions have implemented support programs for former foster care youth, who face lower rates of college retention and graduation than their non-foster peers. These programs must operate within the constraints that colleges and universities impose on them while attempting to maintain program effectiveness. Despite the relevance of the broader university context on campus support program effectiveness, limited studies have examined possible implications of organizational constraints. This study explores organizational constraints and their consequences on campus support programs for former foster care youth. Using an integrated organizational sociology of education framework, we analyzed data from in-depth interviews with 20 program coordinators of campus support programs for former foster care youth across the United States. Results revealed five organizational constraints imposed by the organizational network and structure: limited resource allocation, immobilized information, structural disconnection, conflicting goals, and weak relationships. Our analysis suggests these constraints reinforce each other and undermine program effectiveness. We conclude by discussing the need for additional organizational research on campus support programs, arguing that addressing constraints can lead to a more thorough understanding of their consequences on campus support programs for marginalized student groups.

Free Access by January 17: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1kAvJ_4La8W7-W