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Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) employees constitute one of the largest, but least studied, minority groups in the workforce. This article examines what we know, and what we need to know, about the career and workplace experiences of this understudied population. The construct of sexual identity is defined, followed by a review of the research on sexual orientation in the workplace. Then an analysis of the differences between LGB employees and other stigmatized groups is presented. Three unique challenges facing LGB employees are identified, and conceptual models are developed that explain underlying processes. Finally, career theories are critically analyzed, and an identity-based longitudinal theory of LGB careers is presented.

Implicit bias is the application of an unconscious attitude or belief; in the clinical setting, a provider’s perception of a patient, based upon perceived race or ethnicity, is hypothesized to affect clinical decisions, provider-patient interactions and patient health. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief synopsis of and critique the relevant works over the past 15 years while highlighting the strengths of this body of literature.

A MEDLINE search, from 2000 to 2015, using the terms “implicit bias,” “unconscious bias” and “aversive racism” was performed. US-based studies investigating the effect of racial or ethnic implicit bias on the clinical encounter or patient outcomes were assessed. In total, 15 articles were eligible for review.

Despite well-reasoned hypotheses that racial/ethnic bias negatively affects patient care, this review found mixed results. Largely, studies showed that US-providers hold an anti-black implicit bias negatively affecting patient-provider communication and patient satisfaction. But studies have not shown that this bias consistently negatively affects diagnosis and treatment regimens of black patients in comparison to white patients. There is a significant dearth of implicit bias literature addressing the care of other patient groups of color.

This review of the recent literature challenges the black-white dichotomy of most implicit bias research in the USA and highlights the lack of patient-oriented outcome research in this field. Furthermore, it demonstrates that regardless of the effect of implicit bias on patient outcomes, focus on eliminating implicit bias is insufficient to improve the health of people of color.

This paper investigated the interactions between gender stereotypes for jobs, applicant gender, and the communication styles used by male and female applicants during an interview. This study was conducted as a laboratory experiment, utilizing a 2x2x2 mixed design. Subjects read one job description and heard three audiotapes of all male or all female job applicants exhibiting a dominant, submissive, or neutral communication style. The subjects then rated the applicant on five dimensions. These dimensions are likeability, competence, sociability, overall impression, and hireability. Results showed significant interactions of applicant gender and communication style on four of the five dimensions rated in this study. An inspection of the dimension means revealed different effects for gender‐appropriate and gender‐inappropriate behavior for males and females. Males were penalized on ratings of overall impression and hireability for communicating in stereotypically gender‐inappropriate manners. Females were penalized on ratings of sociability and likeability for communicating in a stereotypically gender‐inappropriate fashion. The implications of these findings for using interviews are then discussed in terms of aversive genderism.

This essay tackles the Obama “phenomenon,” from his candidacy to his election, as a manifestation of the new “color-blind racism” that has characterized U.S. racial politics in the post-civil rights era. Rather than symbolizing the “end of race,” or indeed a “miracle,” Obama's election is a predictable result of contemporary U.S. electoral politics. In fact, Obama is a middle-of-the-road Democrat whose policies since taking office have been almost perfectly in line with his predecessors, especially in terms of his failure to improve the lot of blacks and other minorities. In this essay, I review the concept of color-blind racism and its application to the Obama phenomenon. I also revisit some of my past predictions for Obama's presidency and evaluate their accuracy halfway through his term. Finally, I offer suggestions for constructing a genuine social movement to push Obama and future politicians to provide real, progressive “change we can believe in.”

This chapter is based on a chapter I added for the third edition of my book, Racism without Racists. Louise Seamster, a wonderful graduate student at Duke, helped me update some material, locate new sources, and rework some sections, as well as abridge some of the many footnotes (interested readers can consult the chapter). I kept the first person to maintain the more direct and engaged tone of the original piece and because the ideas (the good, the bad, and the ugly ones) in the chapter are mine, and thus, I wish to remain entirely responsible for them.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss and seek a better understanding of the stigmatization of unemployed workers who have been laid off.

This is a conceptual paper which addresses the factors that affect stigmatization and resulting discrimination against laid‐off individuals such as minority status, age, labor markets, job level, and length of unemployment. Issues of categorization and stereotyping of laid‐off workers are explored.

The increased use of layoffs by organizations has created a large class of unemployed workers who, rather than being seen as victims, are perceived to be deficient in their skills and abilities. This stigmatization is seen as more detrimental to laid‐off minorities and older workers as well as those who have been unemployed for long periods of time. The amount of discrimination is likely to be affected by the job market and level of job.

Propositions are developed to examine the factors affecting the stigma as well as moderators affecting the relationship between the unemployment stigma and discrimination.

Organizations should examine their HR policies and practices regarding the unemployed seeking jobs. Discrimination against the unemployed may result in long‐term unemployment that may have enormous human costs.

This paper highlights the ways in which being laid off now stigmatizes an individual and may significantly limit his/her ability to secure future employment. Since there are no legal restrictions on discriminating against the unemployed, organizations may systematically screen out applicants who are not currently employed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the impact of persistent racial bias, discrimination and racial violence is facilitated by otherwise well-intentioned individuals who fail to act or intercede. Utilizing the aversive racism framework, the need to move beyond awareness raising to facilitate behavioral changes is discussed. Examining the unique lens provided by the aversive racism framework and existing research, the bystander effect provides important insights on recent acts of racial violence such as the murder of Mr. George Floyd. Some promise is shown by the work on effective bystander behavior training and highlights the need for shared responsibility in preventing the outcomes of racial violence and discrimination to create meaningful and long-lasting social change.

This paper uses literature based on the aversive racism framework together with the literature on the bystander effect to understand the factors, conditions and consequences for lack of intervention when the victim is African American. This paper also provides evidence and theory-based recommendations for strategies to change passive bystanders into active allies.

The use of the aversive racism framework provides a powerful lens to help explain the inconsistencies in the bystander effect based on the race of the victim. The implications for intervention models point to the need for behavioral and competency-based approaches that have been shown to provide meaningful change.

Several different approaches to address incidents of racial aggression and violence have been developed in the past. However, given the principles of aversive racism, a unique approach that considers the inconsistencies between self-perceptions and actions is needed. This sets a new agenda for future research and meaningful behavioral intervention programs that seek to equip bystanders to intercede in the future.

The need to address and provide effective strategies to reduce the incidence of racial aggression and violence have wide-ranging benefits for individuals, communities and society.

By connecting the aversive racism framework to the bystander effect, the need for different models for developing responsive and active bystanders can be more effectively outlined.

The purpose of this study is to address an under‐represented aspect of the literature on gender and work – how Black and White women managers perceive the influence of racism in the workplace.

Data were gathered using a survey instrument and compared using χ² analyses. Theoretical constructs of aversive racism, White racial identity, and White privilege frame the discourse and the proposed model.

Compared to their White counterparts, more Black respondents perceived racism in their workplaces, were supportive of affirmation action, and saw racial as well as gender disparities in work effort required for success. In contrast, many White participants did not perceive workplace racism, saw little need for affirmative action initiatives, and seemed to hold an illusion of equity regarding work effort.

One is a small response percentage for Black participants. Two, members of the organizations selected may not be representative of the general population. Future research should be conducted within organizations and include other under‐represented groups to guide organizational responses to combined race/ethnicity and gender concerns.

Even well‐meaning White women may be perpetuating racial inequities and inadvertently hurting their sisters of color by not acknowledging the pervasive influence of race on gender experience. Similarly, if organizations address only gender issues and do not acknowledge the additional constraints of race for women of color, careers of talented women and organizations that need their expertise will suffer.

The perceptions of racism model suggests potential antecedents for the illusion of equity perceived by White respondents.

The purpose of this paper is to document the racist undertones of Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign rhetoric and draw implications regarding its impact on equality, diversity, and inclusion. Most contemporary individuals reject explicitly racist beliefs and strive to present themselves as having egalitarian attitudes toward other races and ethnicities. However, commonly held implicit biases toward historically marginalized racioethnic groups drive negative effect that is often unconscious and unacknowledged. Inconsistency between the conscious and unconscious aspects of contemporary racism generates a population of individuals who are uncomfortable with their attitudes, creating an opening for politicians willing to leverage racist rhetoric and gain support by resolving this inconsistency.

This paper applies social psychological theory and research to address the questions of what attracts otherwise non-racist individuals to racist-tinged rhetoric. The paper also provides theory-based interventions for reducing the attractiveness and impact of racist political campaigns.

Supporters of racist politicians resolve the conflict between their negative feelings toward racioethnic minorities and their espoused anti-racist views by distancing themselves from racist rhetorical content in three ways: by denying that racist statements or actions occurred, denying that the statements or actions are racist, and/or by denying responsibility for racism and its effects. These techniques provide supporters with validation from an authority that they can express their negative affect toward out-groups and still consider themselves to be good people and not racists.

Distancing from racism has allowed contemporary American extremists to reframe themselves as victims of closed-minded progressives seeking to elevate undeserving and/or dangerous out-groups at the in-group’s expense. Effective anti-racism techniques are needed to counter implicit biases in order to limit the attractiveness of extremist views. Implicit biases can be effectively reduced through training in counter-stereotypic imaging, stereotype replacement, and structured inter-group interaction. Effectively countering denial of the facts involves affirming the audience’s belief system while building skepticism toward the sources of misinformation.

While countering racist politicians requires commitment, these efforts are essential for protecting the identity of the USA as a society striving toward equality, diversity, and inclusion.

By articulating the social psychological principles underpinning racist-tinged populist rhetoric, this paper explains the attractiveness of racist statements by politicians, which tends to be under-estimated.

The purpose of this article is to provoke diversity scholars to think about the implications of the confluence of the racial disparities in the effects of the Coronavirus and the persistence of racial inequality for a new direction of theorizing in the field.

Drawing upon three major analogies between the Coronavirus and the virus of racism, the author discusses their similarities as a means to think about why racism persists despite efforts to eradicate it. The history of racism in the United States forms a key part of the discussion.

The current theoretical tools diversity scholars primarily use to address racial inequality in organizations may only at best mitigate, not eradicate, racism in organizations. There is a need to direct theoretical development toward the concepts of racialization and deracialization.

The views and proposals for new theorizing reflect the author's positionality and biases. It also relies on three of the many possible analogies that can be made between racism as a virus and the Coronavirus.

Understanding racism through the lens of racialization and deracialization can help organizations and the leaders of them to identify the structures that embed racism and also how to change them.

Understanding racism and processes of racialization is critical to achieving racial equality. Organizations are one of the main societal institutions that shape and perpetuate the racism and inequality among African-Americans and other people of color experience. Awareness of the continuing effects of racism is critical to anticipating how virus pandemics increase the vulnerability of marginalized racial groups to greater health risks and precariousness.

This essay provokes diversity scholars to engage in reflexive discomfort about the current path of theorizing in the field. It suggests ways that the concept of racialization can be used descriptively and normatively to theorize racism in organizations. In addition, it proposes deracialization as a frame for supplanting the ideology of White supremacy and theorizing nonracial organizations.

The National Health Service (NHS) is the largest employer in the UK but, despite decades of equal opportunities legislation, its senior management workforce does not reflect the diversity of either the wider NHS workforce or the UK population. The aim of the paper is to consider the range of management interventions available to organisations like the NHS to deliver change in the area of promotion of Black and minority ethnic staff.

Intervention programmes in a range of public and private organisations are reviewed and the nature of barriers to promotion and the range of interventions to overcome these are explored. The paper uses the paradigm of institutional racism to examine the ways in which the NHS discriminates against certain sections of its workforce. The methods used include a literature review combined with key stakeholder interviews. A comparative dimension which involved a review of research on leadership initiatives in the USA was also undertaken.

The literature review found that there were a range of initiatives which could be implemented by public organisations such as the NHS to increase the presence of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff in senior management positions. Most of these interventions were largely focused on the individual. Much more progress on institutional or organisational change needed to be made before the NHS could be perceived as a model employer in this area. The literature review also indicated that there is little published research on such initiatives within other European Union countries.

The paper is targeted at both policy makers and human resource officers responsible for equality and diversity issues within large organisations, who have a remit to improve the career pathways of staff. The analysis provided offers a set of critical tools and interventions that have not hitherto been well examined in the UK context.