Towards intersectionality. A new framework for managing diversity

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Author/s Luisa De Vita
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/134 Language Italian
Pages 14 P. 54-67 File size 107 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2014-134003
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The paper discusses the possibility of introducing into the debate on diversity management the intersectionality framework. The paper first provides a comprehensive review of the literature on diversity and then, by analysing the existing gaps in the current practices, identifies the possible implications and innovations that can be produced using an intersectional perspective. It is argued that mainstream theories of diversity help us to understand both the structural constraints and the advantages that may arise from diversity. However, these theories are unable to fully account for differences that may exist within social groups and to consider the complex and irreducible nature of belonging, social interaction and power. The practical implications of the concept of intersectionality, and the possible benefits of its application, are also discussed.

Keywords: Intersectionality, gender, equal opportunity, diversity management, difference, diversity

  1. Lombardo E., Verloo M. (2009). Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the European Union? International Feminist Journal of Politics, 11: 478-495. DOI: 10.1080/14616740903237442
  2. Anthias F. (2013). Moving beyond the Janus face of integration and diversity discourses: towards an intersectional framing. The Sociological Review, 61: 323-343. DOI: 10.1111/1467-954X.12001
  3. Beck U. (2000). Il lavoro nell’epoca della fine del lavoro. Torino: Einaudi.
  4. Beck U., Giddens A., Lash S., (1994). Reflexive Modernization: Politics, tradition and aesthetics in the modern social order. Cambridge: Polity Press (trad. it.: Modernizzazione riflessiva. Trieste: Asterios, 1999).
  5. Burman E. (2003). From difference to intersectionality: challenges and resources. European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 6: 293-308. DOI: 10.1080/3642530410001665904
  6. Choo H.Y., Ferree M.M. (2010). Practicing intersectionality in sociological research: a critical analysis of inclusions, interactions, and institutions in the study of inequalities. Sociological Theory, 28: 129-149. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01370.x
  7. Cho S., Crenshaw K.W., McCall L. (2013). Toward a field of intersectionality studies: Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs, 38: 785-8. DOI: 10.1086/669608
  8. Cornet A. (2010). “Gender and Diversity: the intersectionality and transversality stakes”, paper presentato alla European Academy of Management Conference on Back to the Future (Euram), Roma, 19-22 Maggio.
  9. Crenshaw K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Colour. Stanford Law Review, 43: 1241-1299.
  10. Crenshaw K. (1989). Demarginalising the Intersection of Race and Sex: a Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum: 139-67.
  11. Cuomo S., Mapelli A. (2007). Diversity Management. Gestire e valorizzare le differenze individuali nell’organizzazione che cambia. Milano: Guerini e Associati.
  12. Davis K. (2008). Intersectionality as buzzword: A sociology of science perspective on what makes a feminist theory successful. Feminist Theory, 9: 67-86. DOI 10.1177/1464700108086364. De los Reyes P. (2006). Intersectionality, discrimination and power. In: Artemjeff
  13. P., Henriksson K., a cura di, Mainstreaming equality and non- discrimination in theory and practice. Helsinki: Cosmoprint.
  14. De Vita L. (2011). Il Diversity Management in Italia e in Europa. L’esperienza delle carte della diversità. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  15. Foldy E.G. (2002). Managing diversity: identity and power in organisations. In: Aaltio I., Mills A.J., a cura di, Gender, Identity and the Culture of Organizations. London: Routledge.
  16. Hancock A.M. (2007). Intersectionality as a Normative and Empirical Paradigm. Politics & Gender, 2: 248-54. DOI: 10.1017/S1743923X07000062
  17. Holvino E. (2010). Intersections: the simultaneity of race, gender and class in organization studies. Gender, Work and Organization, 17: 248-277. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2008.00400.x
  18. Kantola J., Nousiainen K. (2009). Institutionalizing intersectionality in Europe: legal and political analyses, paper presentato alla First European Conference on Politics and Gender, Queen’s University Belfast.
  19. Kirton G., Greene A.M. (2000). The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.
  20. Lewis G. (2009). Celebrating intersectionality? Debates on a multi-faceted concept in gender studies: themes from a conference. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 16: 203-210. DOI: 10.1177/1350506809105310
  21. Lorbiecki A., Jack G. (2000). Critical turns in the evolution of Diversity Management. British Journal of Management, 11: 17-31. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.11.s1.3
  22. MacKinnon C.A. (2013). Intersectionality as Method: A Note. Signs, 38: 1019-1030. DOI: 10.1086/669570
  23. McCall L. (2005). The complexity of intersectionality. Signs, 30: 1771-1800. DOI: 10.1086/426800
  24. Meyers D.T. (2000). Intersectional identity and the authentic self? Opposite attract! In: Mackenzie C., Stoljar N., a cura di, Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency and the Social Self. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press.
  25. Monaci M. (2012). Culture nella diversità, cultura della diversità. Una ricognizione nel mondo d’impresa, “Quaderni ISMU”, n. 1.
  26. Mor Barak M.E. (2005). Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace. California: Sage Pubblications.
  27. Noon M. (2007). The fatal flaws of diversity and the business case for ethnic minorities. Work Employment and Society, 21: 773-784.
  28. 10.1177/0950017007082886.
  29. Özbilgin M.F., Beauregard T.A., Tatli A., Bell M.P. (2011). Work-life, diversity and intersectionality: a critical review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13: 177-198. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2370.2010.00291.x
  30. Pezzillo Iacono M., Esposito V., Sicca L.M. (2009). Diversity Management o retorica del linguaggio manageriale? In: Guardo M.C., Hinna R., Zaru D.
  31. (2009). Per lo sviluppo, la competitività e l’innovazione del sistema economico. Il contributo degli studi di Organizzazione Aziendale. Milano: Franco-Angeli.
  32. Schizzerotto A. (2002). Vite ineguali. Disuguaglianze e corsi di vita nell’Italia contemporanea. Bologna: il Mulino.
  33. Swan E. (2010). Commodity diversity: smiling faces as a strategy of containment. Organization, 17: 77-100. DOI: 10.1177/1350508409350043
  34. Tatli A., Özbilgin M. (2012). An Emic Approach to Intersectional Study of Diversity at Work: A Bourdieuan Framing. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14: 180-200. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011.00326.x
  35. Verloo M. (2006). Multiple Inequalities, Intersectionality and the European
  36. Union. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 13: 211-228.
  37. 10.1177/1350506806065753.
  38. Winker G., Degele N. (2011). Intersectionality as multi-level analysis: Dealing with social inequality. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 18: 51-66. DOI: 10.1177/1350506810386084
  39. Wrench J. (2005). Diversity Management can be bad for you. Race & Class, vol. 46: 73-84. DOI: 10.1177/0306396805050019
  40. Yuval-Davis N. (2006). Belonging and the Politics of Belonging. Patterns of Prejudice, 3: 196-213. DOI: 10.1080/00313220600769331
  41. Yuval-Davis N. (2011). Power, intersectionality and the politics of belonging. FREIA working paper series, 75. DOI: 10.1080/00313220600769331
  42. Zanfrini L., a cura di (2011). Sociologia delle differenze e delle disuguaglianze. Bologna: Zanichelli.
  43. Zanoni P., Janssens M., Benschop Y., Nkomo S. (2010). Unpacking diversity, grasping inequality: rethinking difference through critical perspectives. Organization, 17: 9-29. DOI: 10.1177/1350508409350344

  • Aggirare i vincoli. La frammentazione del lavoro nell'industria dell'ospitalità veneziana Francesco E. Iannuzzi, in SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO 146/2017 pp.139
    DOI: 10.3280/SL2017-146009

Luisa De Vita, Verso l’intersectionality. Un nuovo paradigma per la gestione delle diversità in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 134/2014, pp 54-67, DOI: 10.3280/SL2014-134003