“But the fellows are simply diversity hires!” How organizational contexts influence status beliefs

Sandra Portocarrero and James T. Carter

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We demonstrate how organizational contexts influence status beliefs. Specifically, we draw from in- depth interviews conducted with current and former U.S. Foreign Service officers to explain how recipients of the U.S. Department of State Pickering Fellowship learn to accept a devaluing status belief about this accolade once they enter the Foreign Service. Within this organizational contex is an established belief that Foreign Service officers who are not the prototypical “Male, Pale, and Yale” workers must be “diversity hires” who have entered the department through a “back door” and have a “leg up” because of their race. This racialized negative evaluation becomes linked to the Pickering Fellowship and affects all fellows. Our study offers insights into the intersection of racial diversity and status processes in organizations.

Keywords: race and ethnicity; organizations; diversity; inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 J50 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-11-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in RSF: Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 1, November, 2022, 8(7), pp. 172-191. ISSN: 2377-8261

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/125329/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:125329

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().