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Interactional Inequalities at Work: The Influences of Compositional Dynamics and the Organizational Context

Williams, Lisa Marie
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1274096009

Abstract Details

2010, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Sociology.
Interactional inequalities – inequalities that occur within everyday workplace experiences, and that include general incivility, sexual harassment, and racial discrimination – are an ongoing social problem. Research has suggested that workplaces characterized by procedural chaos and low status workers are especially susceptible to the emergence of such inequality. In this paper, I add to this literature by focusing on the importance of gender and racial composition/competition processes for the emergence of general incivility, sexual harassment, and racial discrimination in the workplace. I also consider whether human resources structures, such as an EEO office and diversity training, reduce the likelihood of interactional inequalities. Analyses draw on the 2002 /National Organizational Survey/ – a survey of U.S. businesses that includes measures of interactional inequalities, organizational context including composition, and human resource structures and diversity efforts. I find notable and overlapping associations of gender and racial composition with all three forms of interactional inequality, suggesting both general and group-specific targeting of victims. Importantly, and consistent with some other recent scholarship, human resource structures do not mitigate these patterns and, in the cases of sexual harassment and diversity trainings, may actually intensify general and group-specific interactional inequalities. I conclude by revisiting how compositional dynamics and vulnerabilities may matter and why arguably protective structures and practices seem not to work.
Vincent Roscigno, PhD (Advisor)
Claudia Buchmann, PhD (Committee Member)
Andrew Martin, PhD (Committee Member)
43 p.
Sociology
Stratification; Work; Race; Gender

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Williams, L. M. (2010). Interactional Inequalities at Work: The Influences of Compositional Dynamics and the Organizational Context [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1274096009

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Williams, Lisa. Interactional Inequalities at Work: The Influences of Compositional Dynamics and the Organizational Context. 2010. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1274096009.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Williams, Lisa. "Interactional Inequalities at Work: The Influences of Compositional Dynamics and the Organizational Context." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1274096009

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1274096009
587
© 2010, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.