Dr Felix Danbold, UCL
Department of Sociology (42-43 Park End Street) or MS Teams
Please join either in person or online. For in-person attendees, the talk will be preceded by a light lunch at 12.15pm.
Please email comms@sociology.ox.ac.uk with any questions.
Abstract
Opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts is on the rise, including among ostensible beneficiaries (e.g., women, ethnic minorities). Although much is known about why people may oppose DEI in general, less is known about cases where individuals move from being supporters of DEI to opponents, a change we call DEI U-Turns.
We analyse qualitative interviews with workers who have felt their views on DEI move from support to opposition to understand variance in the reasons for this change. In contrast to those clearly excluded from DEI (members of dominant groups who tell familiar stories around perceived conflicts between DEI and meritocracy), we find that people with a more ambiguous relationship with DEI (e.g., Middle Eastern and Asian Americans, White people with disabilities), tell a different story.
Non-prototypical beneficiaries recount grappling with experiences of involuntary inclusion in and/or exclusion from DEI practices, generating dissatisfaction and distancing. In illuminating why many would-be supporters have become opponents, this work reveals unchecked assumptions about who is included in DEI and novel theorising about people on the boundaries of identity-based policies.
