 Racial and Gender Inequality as a (Non)Crisis: The Discursive Strategies of Academic-Managers in Belgian and Danish universitiesDounia Bourabain Journal of Business Research, 2024, vol. 178, issue C Abstract: This study investigates academic-managers’ understanding of gender and racial inequality in Belgian and Danish universities. Employing Sylvia Walby’s and Janet Roitman’s crisis concept, findings show that academic-managers use three discursive strategies of justification that are inherently tied to a noncrisis narrative. By justifying gender and racial inequality as a) ‘normal’ in academia through a meritocratic-neoliberal approach, b) considering it a matter that needs to be resolved ‘higher up’, and c) using a politics of time to relegate inequality to the past and equality to the future, they exempt themselves from dealing with gender and racial inequality. Crisis talk appears when gender inequality may harm the institution’s reputation. We conclude by advocating for a shift from a language of diversity to a language of crisis. Framing gender and racial inequality as a crisis evokes a sense of urgency to foster inclusion and diversity in research and innovation. Keywords: Diversity; Crisis; Gender inequality; Management; Academia (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:178:y:2024:i:c:s0148296324001632 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114659 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
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