Strengths from Disadvantage: Toward a Broader Understanding of the Consequences of Social Inequality

Abstract

Scholarship aimed at understanding the experiences and outcomes of members of historically disadvantaged, underrepresented, and marginalized social groups has largely focused on and documented the hardships and inequalities they suffer. However, our current understanding of may not capture the full range of consequences arising from social disadvantage. The goal of this symposium is to demonstrate the merit of a more balanced approach to studying the experiences of marginalized groups by considering the unique resources that they may acquire as a result – in contrast to a dominant focus on the detriments. The four papers in this symposium provide theoretical and empirical support for certain strengths that members of disadvantaged groups develop in response to enduring systematically more difficult life experiences, and how they enact such resources at work. These studies demonstrate this phenomenon across four different disadvantaged social groups, including the working class, racial minorities, women, and the LGBTQ community. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this research advances diversity scholarship by shedding light on under-explored outcomes associated with social disadvantage group membership. Employees from Different Social Class Backgrounds Use Distinct Toolkits to Navigate the Workplace Presenter: Andrea Dittmann; Emory U., Goizueta Business School Presenter: Nicole Stephens; Northwestern U. Presenter: Sarah S M Townsend; U. of Southern California Together We Thrive: How Racial Discrimination Leads to Pro-group Helping and Voicing Presenter: Ambra Mazzelli; MIT Sloan School of Management Presenter: James T. Carter; Columbia Business School Trailblazer Mindsets and Marginalized Groups: When Being Underrepresented Helps You Help Others Presenter: Karren Kimberly Knowlton; Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Coping with Devaluation: Socioemotional Assets Arising from the Experience of Stigma Presenter: Gabrielle Rose Lopiano; Emory U. Presenter: Melissa J. Williams; Emory U.