Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist

Thinking the multiple in gender and diversity studies: examining the concept of intersectionality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concept of intersectionality. In recent management writing, a vocabulary has been introduced which enacts concepts such as assemblages, multiplicity, rhizomes, and becoming. Such a vocabulary is helpful when revising the theoretical models used in gender research. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on this fluid mode of thinking, which is fundamentally indebted to a process thinking that favours becoming and change over stability and fixed entities as the primary analytical categories, the concept of intersectionality is discussed. Findings – It is suggested that intersectionality perspectives, a concept developed to enable the analysis of co-existing and co-operating registers of knowledge and power, may inform gender and diversity studies and organization theory in general. Rather than reducing all sorts of identities or subject-positions to a single plane, intersectionality perspectives conceive of identity as being derived from different registers functioning as shifting planes, at times operating detachedly from one another; in other cases directly overlapping and even clashing. Practical implications – Intersectionality thinking is capable of influencing a variety of organizational and managerial practices. Originality/value – The paper seeks to bridge process thinking, gender theory, and diversity management literature through introducing the concept of intersectionality as a helpful tool when thinking of organizational practice.

Sorting people out: The uses of one-dimensional classificatory schemes in a multi-dimensional world

This paper examines how people are classified as part of a labour market project aimed at establishing a process for recognizing prior learning among immigrants to Sweden in order to integrate them more quickly with the labour market and society. The paper suggests that, in Sweden, this work prioritizes procedural effectiveness over a more comprehensive understanding of the competence and qualifications of the immigrant worker. By exploring the process of classification in which cognitive structuring of the perceived world results in organizational, administrative and structural enactment, the study provides further insights into how practices of classification are a central part of organizational life. The concept of intersectionality contributes by showing how individuals are situated at the intersection of a variety of classificatory schemes, and together with classification, intersectionality points to how organizational categories are never given, but a result of bureaucratic power procedures strengthening, weakening and/or negotiating away categories used to sort people out.

Doing of gender and scientific knowledge production

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to enable the author to discuss some personal experiences from research and teaching that relate to the special circumstances of doing gender research.Design/methodology/approach – When reading about Styhres and Tienaris experiences, the author is not so surprised by but rather concerned about the resemblance and reflections evoked by the text vis‐a‐vis her own experiences of doing research in the gender field. During recent decades, she had the opportunity to explore various organizing issues in her research, from technology and organizational change to gender and intersectionality. This provided her with both an inside and outside perspective on some of the specificities which recur in the field of gender studies.Findings – Doing gender research enables men and women to “become with” women, men and other people. When able to respond to other people with respect, the researcher can “become with” the studied one. By going into the experiences previously shared by o...