Who Pays for Diversity?

Why Programs Fail at Racial Equity and What to Do about It
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-0-520-39222-9
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 363 g

How diversity initiatives harm employees of color by turning them into workplace commodities.
 
Diversity programs are under attack. Should those interested in racial justice fight to keep them, or might there be another way forward? Who Pays for Diversity? reveals the costs that employees of color pay under current programs by having their racial identities commodified to benefit white people and institutions. Oneya Fennell Okuwobi proposes fresh and thoughtful ways to reorient these initiatives, move beyond tokenism, and authentically center marginalized employees.
 
Drawing on accounts of employees from across the workplace spectrum, from corporations to churches to universities, Who Pays for Diversity? details how the optics of diversity programs undermine employees' competence while diminishing their well-being and workplace productivity. Okuwobi argues that diversity programs have been a costly detour on the path to racial justice, and getting back on track requires solutions that provide equity, dignity, and agency to all employees, instead of defending the status quo.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Okuwobi, Oneya Fennell

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Bereichsspezifisches Management Personalwesen, Human Resource Management
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wirtschaftssoziologie, Arbeitssoziologie, Organisationssoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Soziale Gruppen & Klassen
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Unternehmensorganisation, Corporate Responsibility Unternehmenskultur, Corporate Governance
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gewalt und Diskriminierung: Soziale Aspekte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

Acknowledgments 

1 The Costs of Diversity 
2 Commodities and Tokens 
3 One of the Things about Bridges Is They Get Walked On 
4 Honorary Whites and Collective Blacks: Degrees of Diversity 
5 “I’m Improving It for Us”: Diversity Ideology for Employees of Color 
6 Making Diversity the Only Option 
7 Formal Diversity Practices 
8 Dreaming Bigger: Toward Workplace Equity 

Appendix 1: Study Participants 
Appendix 2: Interview Guide 
Notes 
References 
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Oneya Fennell Okuwobi is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati.