Putting our own house in order: whiteness, change and organization studies

Abstract

Assumptions about race in the discipline of organization studies are explored by introducing the notion of “interrogating whiteness”. Standpoint epistemology, which assumes people’s experiences are relevant to the ways they know, allows the apparently unmarked, neutral category of whiteness to be seen as one standpoint among many. To encourage a useful discussion of race, key terms are situated linguistically and historically, background is given on paradigms for thinking about race, and there is a consideration of the consequences of whiteness and blackness. I examine what writers say about race when it is not the topic about which they claim to write. The organizational life of the discipline and authorship is explored. I then turn to the organizational literature for further illustration of whiteness as unmarked, stereotypical examples, and distancing language.

Citation

Grimes, D. (2001), "Putting our own house in order: whiteness, change and organization studies", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 132-149. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810110388054