Constructing a Post-Secular Lens in Gender and Diversity Research and Why It Matters
By Angela
Hope
Sobey School of Business, St Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada PhD Student in Management. The Next 25 Years of GDO Research—A Special Panel in Honor of GDO’s 25th Anniversary
As a critical, reflexive feminist scholar, I state upfront my social location and what major organizations have shaped (continue to shape) my perspectives…..
Biracial,
US-middle class, heterosexual (for now), ‘normatively’ able-bodied, young, Masters in Theological Studies (Boston Univ)
Research Focus- Theologies of Liberation: Feminist, Queer, Womanist/Black
Army
Reserves (10 years) 3 yrs Active Duty Raised Catholic, now self identify as practical agnostic, critical of dominant Xtian narratives which oppress women and minority groups
Married to a STRONG Atheist
DIVERSITY Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Ability, Looks, Age, Sexual Orientation, Class Religion–along with politics belongs to the private realm-“Don’t talk religion in public!!” Creed, Religion, Beliefs etc.
As
a strand of diversity and equality
James King Jr., Myrtle Bell, Ericka Lawrence, K.C. Cash, G.R. Gray.
How
it hinders or helps diversity and equality
Mustafa Ozbilgin,
Not only in the 19th but for much of the 20th century, the preeminent Protestant, white, male-dominated institutions (e.g. private and state-run universities, medical, law, business practices, and the establishment press) was one sided with elites declaiming the reasons for continued policies of exclusion …
--Mary Fainsod Katzenstein, Faithful and Fearless: Moving Feminist Protest Inside the Church and Military
Secularization Theory Debunked?
Religious ideologies are a ubiquitous aspect of daily life in the World In the West, Judeo-Christian narratives, norms, and values are deeply constituted in Western culture despite the diversity of religious/irreligious backgrounds In organizations, discourses may manifest itself in a variety of ways including through organizational policies and practices, cultural norms, symbolic practices, and everyday behavior.
Yet, management researchers have paid little attention to theologically informed practices and behaviors and its potential individual and organizational level impacts.
Sexual Orientation: An Analogy Refuting the “Private” Argument
Can’t be seen but it is the discourses and narratives expressed, enacted, and mobilized which marginalize and dehumanize Religiously informed myths/ narratives are expressed, enacted, and mobilized
Religion in the Workplace
Manifests in Two Main Ways
Individual-Level
(unit of analysis: individual)
Individual’s perspective, his/her religion, irreligion, spirituality, beliefs, etc.
Western
Culture-Level (unit of analysis: organization)
Judeo-Christian narratives, norms, and values that interpenetrate with Western culture. Because this is institutionalized and systemic, we experience them not just listening to politicians on TV but also in workplaces.
Classical (White-Male) Theology
Redemptive Violence Scapegoating/Surrogacy rather than Voluntary SelfSacrifice Highly Dualistic, body—seat of sin, disciplining bodies Women as subordinate to men, weak because too tied to body Life forms fall into a hierarchy God as Male, even White, ascribed with patriarchal power Redemption is only about expiation from sins committed
NOT JUST WORKPLACES, BUT EVEN IN HOW WE DO RESEARCH THESE NORMS PENETRATE… AN EXAMPLE: Many academic disciplines retain the ancient-modern philosophical canon that ethics (what is good), knowledge, and truth are produced from the logos rather than the body, feeling, touch. Within Organization Studies and Management, positivist epistemology remains the dominant research approach and our bodies experiences and emotions are not to be part of the analysis, or we have committed a sin against positivism. See: Whiteman, G et al. (2009) The mind (soul) /body dualism is correlated with distinctions between reason/ emotion, quantitative /qualitative, public sphere/private sphere, male/ female, masculine/ feminine, good/ evil, heaven/ earth (matter)…etc.
Postsecularism
Informed by sociologists and philosophers: Peter Berger, Max Weber, Grace Davie, Effie Fokas, Rene Gerard, Ludwig Feuerbach Signifies that modernization does not lead to secularization but societies by and large remain ‘religious’ or seek ‘the transcendent’. Critical of any religious ideologies that marginalize groups on account of socioeconomic status; Does not seek to get rid of religion nor look down upon it Pertaining to the West, it acknowledges that theistic or atheist, practicing or ‘not practicing,’ workplace organizations to some degree will be influenced with this theological cultural conditioning rooted in classical interpretations of Judeo Christian narratives It then is about resisting, subverting, reinterpreting, and reconstructing these constituted narratives and discourses in organizations b/c they engender oppression
Why this Matters
Another way of approaching the same goal Religion is not going away in general In the workplace, religion and spirituality is gaining legitimacy as a type of diversity that needs protection and even harnessing Litigation suits have increased over years As AOM GDO fosters research on international gender and diversity issues, it is very important. Post 9-11 context
Possible Research Queries
Organizational culture/norms may privilege Judeo-Christian (Protestant) ideologies such that workers who do not ascribe to this, or are atheists, may feel marginalized and in turn this negatively affects their attitudinal and behavioral job outcomes Do women and minority groups suffer from discrimination and oppression as the result of attitudes rooted in religiously informed perspectives and organizational policies
Women cannot be ordained in Catholic organization Women cannot fill 30% of military jobs in U.S Army Women are the victims of violence at a rate higher than males because they have deviated from the proper divinely ordained role as mother and servant to their husband? A Gay man does not get promoted because of dominant classical theological norms which are enacted covertly at the organizational level of that workplace.
What type of Research Methods
Quantitative Analysis Qualitative Analysis
Narrative
Analysis Discourse Analysis; CDA Interviews Ethnographies
