Inhabited Ideology: Diversity Ideology and Approaches to Racial Equity Across Institutional Sectors

Sociologists study diversity as both the cornerstone idea of an emergent dominant racial ideology and an organizational strategy to address racial inequality. How do diversity workers adapt this ideology to the institutional demands of their organizational contexts? The authors bring research on rac...

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Main Authors: Emily Handsman, Bonnie Siegler
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:Socius
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231241312071
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author Emily Handsman
Bonnie Siegler
author_facet Emily Handsman
Bonnie Siegler
author_sort Emily Handsman
collection DOAJ
description Sociologists study diversity as both the cornerstone idea of an emergent dominant racial ideology and an organizational strategy to address racial inequality. How do diversity workers adapt this ideology to the institutional demands of their organizational contexts? The authors bring research on racial ideology and inhabited institutionalism together to propose a theory of inhabited ideology by showing that institutional myths—cultural ideals that organizations must engage with to maintain legitimacy within their institutional sector—mediate diversity ideology to create local ideological tenets which shape and justify organizational approaches to racial equity. The authors use two case studies to show that workers charged with addressing racial inequality in public and private K–12 schools interpret the demands of their work and develop racial equity programming in ways that align with sector-specific institutional myths. The authors argue for additional uses of this theory to examine the intersection of ideology and organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across sectors.
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spelling doaj-art-3f31055e358145ac836eddf58f6dc7372025-01-09T17:03:27ZengSAGE PublishingSocius2378-02312025-01-011110.1177/23780231241312071Inhabited Ideology: Diversity Ideology and Approaches to Racial Equity Across Institutional SectorsEmily Handsman0Bonnie Siegler1Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USAColumbia University, New York, NY, USASociologists study diversity as both the cornerstone idea of an emergent dominant racial ideology and an organizational strategy to address racial inequality. How do diversity workers adapt this ideology to the institutional demands of their organizational contexts? The authors bring research on racial ideology and inhabited institutionalism together to propose a theory of inhabited ideology by showing that institutional myths—cultural ideals that organizations must engage with to maintain legitimacy within their institutional sector—mediate diversity ideology to create local ideological tenets which shape and justify organizational approaches to racial equity. The authors use two case studies to show that workers charged with addressing racial inequality in public and private K–12 schools interpret the demands of their work and develop racial equity programming in ways that align with sector-specific institutional myths. The authors argue for additional uses of this theory to examine the intersection of ideology and organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across sectors.https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231241312071
spellingShingle Emily Handsman
Bonnie Siegler
Inhabited Ideology: Diversity Ideology and Approaches to Racial Equity Across Institutional Sectors
Socius
title Inhabited Ideology: Diversity Ideology and Approaches to Racial Equity Across Institutional Sectors
title_full Inhabited Ideology: Diversity Ideology and Approaches to Racial Equity Across Institutional Sectors
title_fullStr Inhabited Ideology: Diversity Ideology and Approaches to Racial Equity Across Institutional Sectors
title_full_unstemmed Inhabited Ideology: Diversity Ideology and Approaches to Racial Equity Across Institutional Sectors
title_short Inhabited Ideology: Diversity Ideology and Approaches to Racial Equity Across Institutional Sectors
title_sort inhabited ideology diversity ideology and approaches to racial equity across institutional sectors
url https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231241312071
work_keys_str_mv AT emilyhandsman inhabitedideologydiversityideologyandapproachestoracialequityacrossinstitutionalsectors
AT bonniesiegler inhabitedideologydiversityideologyandapproachestoracialequityacrossinstitutionalsectors