Sanctioned Radicals: Comparing Collective Organizing Around Race and Gender Inside Organizations

Abstract

In response to ongoing race and gender inequality, racial minorities and women have often collectively organized around their identities to create more inclusive workplaces. Although both groups are marginalized, the structures of race and gender hierarchies are different. This paper explores how collective organizing around race differs from collective organizing around gender inside of organizations. Because race and gender inequality are both based on hierarchies that differentially allocate resources, I analyze the resource relationships between the subordinate and dominant members of both hierarchies (Black and White for race; women and men for gender). I pay particular attention to the dynamics of formal organizing inside of organizations and introduce the term sanctioned radicals. Sanctioned radicals are individuals who attempt to change their organization with the explicit permission and approval of their organization. They are sanctioned by being officially recognized and supported with resources, but they are also sanctioned by being controlled by that resource relationship. Thus, organizing within organizations amplifies the resource relationship already inherent within gender and race hierarchies. In a qualitative field study comparing employee resource groups (ERGs) organized for Black versus women employees in a high tech company in Silicon Valley, I found that Black and women employees’ experiences of sanctioned radicalism differed with regard to their ability to access resources. I discuss how the unique traits of race and gender along with the intersections of race and gender shaped this variance. Finally, I discuss how this research can illuminate paths for reducing both race and gender inequality.