7 - Inequalities on the Move
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2021
Summary
The previous chapter focused on one of the new ways in which transnational migration studies inform the field of management and organization studies vis-à-vis the theorization and study of difference beyond the level of people. In this regard, the ways in which multiculturalism as a concept and practice have been studied and deployed in the MOS field were critiqued and new considerations offered for a nuanced and contextualized approach to its adoption. This chapter builds on novel ways the field of MOS can move forward in attending to difference by considering the notion of inequalities. That is, how inequalities take shape in the context of organizations and due to organizations, and the various ways in which such inequalities exist in multi-levels in societies among other considerations. To understand the relevance of inequalities for the study of difference, this chapter focuses on three elements.
The first is an examination of how individual experiences around inequality need to be brought to the forefront of any research on diversity, difference, and cross-cultural experiences. In other words, the ways in which inequalities take shape in the context of one's particular positionality and in relation to organizational experiences need further examination. While these issues have been considered to a larger extent in other social science fields, such as sociology, anthropology, and geography, they have yet to impact management and organization studies in a substantial way. In many ways, the study of inequalities can sometimes become overly focused on ‘perceptions’ of justice in organizations, such as the oftdeployed procedural or distribute justice aspects of organizational behavior research (see Rupp et al., 2017, for an overview), and their relationship to employee behaviors or organizational outcomes. Rather, the focus on inequalities arriving from transnational migration studies will expand on this rather narrow and individualist (and relative) notion of ‘justice’ and ‘fairness’. In fact, the ways in which inequalities take shape through intentional and nonintentional acts in particular organizations need to be examined in considering the embedded nature of organizations in relation to their socio-cultural, political, and economic contexts.
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- Information
- Transnational Migration and the New Subjects of WorkTransmigrants, Hybrids and Cosmopolitans, pp. 95 - 108Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2019