Labor market discrimination

Lecture 10 - Dec 4

Labor market discrimination

Blatant discrimination → Subtle discrimination → 5 elements of distinction
→ Blatant and subtle power → Ambiguity → Societal context

Blatant and subtle discrimination in the labor
market or in organizations

Blatant discrimination:

Openly differential and unfair treatment, with visible structural
outcomes (such as being denied a job or promotion).

• This is clear, obvious, and intentional unfair treatment that is easy to recognize. It often results in visible, measurable consequences, such as being refused a job, denied housing, or facing harsher penalties due to factors like race, gender, or ethnicity. Examples include segregated facilities or an employer stating they won’t hire people of a specific background. These actions are typically illegal under anti-discrimination laws.
  

Subtle discrimination:

Everyday forms of discrimination that are less open, characterized by
their ambiguous nature and often not punishable under anti-
discrimination legislation.

• It involves behaviors or actions that are ambiguous and often masked as something unrelated to discrimination. Examples include microaggressions, biased comments disguised as jokes, or being overlooked for promotions due to stereotypes. While damaging, such actions are less likely to be addressed legally because they are not overt.

Research question in this article

‘What are the underlying processes of subtle discrimination in the
workplace?’

5 elements of distinction

1) Openness

• Refers to how visible the act of discrimination is. Blatant discrimination, for instance, is open and obvious, while subtle discrimination is more hidden or ambiguous.

2) Intentionality

• Reflects whether the discriminatory behavior is deliberate. Blatant discrimination is typically intentional, while subtle discrimination might be unintentional or unconscious, driven by implicit biases.

3) Ease of interpretation

• Indicates how clear the discriminatory act is to the person experiencing or observing it. Blatant discrimination is straightforward and undeniable, while subtle discrimination can be ambiguous, leaving room for different interpretations.

4) Pervasiveness

• Refers to how widespread and frequent the discrimination is. Subtle discrimination often occurs more regularly in everyday interactions, whereas blatant discrimination may be less frequent but more severe.

5) Acceptance in society

• Examines whether the act is socially normalized or challenged. Subtle discrimination might go unnoticed or be more socially tolerated, while blatant discrimination is more likely to be condemned by laws or social norms.

Disclaimer about the word ‘subtle’

“In talking about ‘subtle’ discrimination, it is important to realize that
the results of subtle discrimination are not necessarily subtle”
(Van Laer & Janssens, 2011, p. 1205)

Manifestation is subtle, not necessarily the effect on the individual.

So? How do individuals experience subtle
discrimination?

• 26 second-generation professionals of Turkish or Maghrebi descent
were interviewed

• About experiences in the workplace in relation to

• Feelings of belonging

• Relationships with co-workers, clients and supervisors

• Their ethnic backgrounds

• Their sense of self

• Respondents weren’t asked directly about discrimination

Power perspective on subtle discrimination

• Not locating sources of discrimination inside the individual, but rather
in structural, societal processes.

Importance of historical, political and social context.

Traditional understanding of power

Power that involves clear, intentional and political behavior: visible and
open conflict which openly favors one person/group above another.

But this is just one, traditional expression of power.

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focuses on clear, intentional actions where individuals or groups exercise dominance over others. It is characterized by visible conflict, where decisions or actions openly favor one group or person above another. This view assumes that power is overt, political, and primarily exercised through institutions like governments, laws, or organizations.

However, this is only one expression of power. Scholars like Steven Lukes and Michel Foucault have pointed out that power can also operate in less visible, indirect ways—through cultural norms, ideologies, and everyday practices—shaping behavior and beliefs without overt conflict. This challenges the traditional, straightforward view of power as simply "who wins in a conflict."

Power also operates in more covert, or subtle,
ways

1) Rules of the game: systematically favoring some over others.

• For example, hiring practices that reward certain cultural norms or language skills systematically benefit some while disadvantaging others.

2) Maintaining and legitimizing the current system → naturalizing the
status quo and de-legitimizing other options

• Power legitimizes existing systems by making them seem "natural" or inevitable. For instance, unequal wealth distribution might be framed as a result of merit rather than systemic inequality, discouraging challenges to the system.

3) Putting forth a “norm” wereby individuals/groups are discursively
classied, differentiated and put in a hierarchical position vis-à-vis
the norm

• Power creates and enforces a dominant "norm" (e.g., cultural, racial, or gender norms). Those who deviate from this norm are classified as "different" or "lesser," reinforcing a hierarchy that privileges some groups and marginalizes others. For example, white, male, and heterosexual identities have often been positioned as the societal standard, marginalizing others.

These subtle forms of power shape individual behaviors and societal structures, making inequality persist without obvious confrontation.

Blatant and subtle discrimination and power

• Blatant forms of discrimination can be seen as expressions of blatant
forms of power (traditional view of power relations)

• Subtle discrimination part of the domain of subtle, or more covert,
forms of power

- Less visible ways of power, not open conflict

- Power working unintentionally and unconsciously

- Power working continuously and not just in rare, open power play situations

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This explanation links forms of discrimination with the concept of power in two ways: blatant (obvious) and subtle (hidden).

1. Blatant Discrimination and Power:
   Blatant discrimination aligns with traditional views of power, where actions are clear, intentional, and overt. Examples include explicit policies or practices that disadvantage specific groups, such as openly denying someone a job based on race or gender. These forms of power are visible and often provoke direct conflict.

2. Subtle Discrimination and Power:
   Subtle discrimination relates to covert power, which operates more indirectly:

   • Less visible: Actions may seem neutral but disproportionately affect certain groups (e.g., biased workplace evaluations).

   • Unintentional/Unconscious: People may not realize they’re perpetuating inequality, like assuming a woman is less committed to her career after maternity leave.

   • Continuous: This power doesn’t manifest only in rare, overt incidents but through everyday actions and norms that reinforce inequality over time (e.g., microaggressions or stereotyping).

This dynamic highlights how power is not only about direct actions but also the systems and norms that maintain inequities behind the scenes.

System of inequality

• Systemic, recurring and familiar encounters, part of everyday
  experiences of belonging to a minority within a system of inequality

“Subtle discrimination [can be understood] as micro-inequities [that]
disempower ethnic minorities”.

“[These micro-inequities] are embedded in everyday interpersonal
encounters, are relatively inconspicuous and often not punishable
under anti-discrimination regulations”

(Van Laer & Janssens, 2011, p. 1207)

Context matters

Flanders, Belgium:

• Those from Belgium (authochtoon) and those
from elsewhere (allochtoon)

• Integration focus on language and
cultural/religious sameness or difference

• Absence of class distinctions in societal
discourses around migrants and their
offspring

When to identify an incident as subtle
discrimination?

When respondents felt:
- Upset
- Uneasy
- Frustrated
- Treated unfairly

And when these feelings were (in)directly linked to their ethnic background.

121 incidents of subtle discrimination across 26 interviews

Important finding of the article

• Experiences of subtle discrimination are characterized by ambiguity
and contradiction

Four mechanisms of subtle discrimination

1) Normalization

• Exposure of difference is requested by the majority group, while
simultaneously the difference is being judged as deviating from the
norm

• Ambiguity: questions can be well-intended (genuine interest), but
they force the minority individual to highlight a particular type of
difference, through which this individual deviates from the norm

Four mechanisms of subtle discrimination

2) Legitimization of only the individual

• Through legitimizing the individual as “exceptional” (for having
attained a professional position, speaking the language well), the
stereotypes around the ethnic group from which the person hails, are
reproduced and reinforced

• Ambiguity: Obtaining compliments while this is setting minority
professionals apart as a sub type, different from the rest of the
(problematized) group

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The second mechanism of subtle discrimination, "Legitimization of only the individual," involves praising a minority individual as exceptional in a way that reinforces negative stereotypes about the group they belong to. Here’s how it works:

1. The "Exceptional" Label:
   A minority professional might be recognized for achievements like speaking the dominant language fluently or excelling in their role. While intended as a compliment, this implicitly suggests that such accomplishments are unusual or surprising for someone from their ethnic group.

2. Reinforcing Stereotypes:
   By highlighting the individual as a "special case," this praise perpetuates the stereotype that the rest of the group lacks those abilities, subtly legitimizing negative assumptions about the broader group.

3. Ambiguity:
   The individual receives positive feedback, yet this isolates them as a “subtype,” creating tension: their success is acknowledged, but it unintentionally reinforces the stigma against their community. This ambiguity makes the act hard to classify as discriminatory but still problematic.

Four mechanisms of subtle discrimination

3) Legitimization as the Other

• The presence of ethnic minority professionals in the workplace is
legitimized, but it involves a mere recognition of their ethnic
background, and not of other qualities, compentences or interests

• Ambiguity: Ethnic minority professionals are welcome in the
organization, but aren’t acknowledged beyond their ethnic
background, thus are not seen as unique individuals

Four mechanisms of subtle discrimination

4) Naturalization

• “Tolerant”, open-minded and progressive co-workers who overlook
and even approve intolerant behavior in the workplace, exposing
tolerance by co-workers as superficial, but also as naturalizing and
reproducing intolerance (such as laughing about racist jokes)

• Ambiguity: Co-workers at first appear to be tolerant and open-
minded, but also tolerate intolerant behavior (and do not appreciate
being called out about it)

Ambiguity in subtle discrimination

Empowering

Behavior in the workplace that
can be perceived as positive or
empowering, such as:
- Compliments
- Asking questions about ethnic
background
- Inviting minority professionals to
engage in matters concerning
diversity

Disempowering

Disempowerment through
empowerment (in contract to
blatant discrimination which
involves ‘pure’ disempowerment):
- Makes it hard to react against it
- Makes it easier to justify
discriminatory behavior

Power in subtle discrimination

- Normalization through confession

- Individual legitimization vs. collecte de-legitimization

- Legitimization of ethnic minorities’ presence, not of their
uniqueness

- Naturalization through tolerance (which masks intolerance)

Societal context in subtle discrimination

• Subtle discrimination in organization is micro-processes of power that are
linked to, and shaped by, the macro-context of societal beliefs, ideas and
discourses around people with a migration background

- Failure in society to see other important identity markers, such as class background,
leading to second-generation professionals being seen, first and foremost, as people
with a migration background (hence marginalized identity)

- Focus on language an culture as main drivers in the societal debate on integration,
and thus permeating into organizations as ways of making compliments or asking
questions about specificity of professionals

- How to understand ‘subtle’ discrimination in a national context in which racism and
discrimination are relatively new societal topics

Subtle discrimination...

maintains power imbalances in society
and the workplace by drawing up invisible
barriers for minority employees.

Hard to challenge, precisely because of the
subtle nature which ties
it to structures in society at large.