Sexual Minority Young Adults’ Construction of Workplace Acceptance in the Era of Diversity and Inclusion

Abstract

In the United States, an increasing number of people have come to express support for sexual minorities in recent decades, and more employers have implemented policies that protect sexual minority workers’ rights. Yet, heteronormativity remains in many workplaces. Considering this ambivalent social context, we examined the extent to which sexual minorities today see their workplaces as accepting and how they develop such a perception. We used a symbolic interaction framework to analyze data from in-depth interviews with 50 sexual minority young adults. The analysis revealed a general tendency among respondents to describe their workplaces as accepting. They used several strategies to feel accepted, including interpreting colleagues’ behaviors positively, creating dramatic narratives of key events, drawing on existing knowledge about the industry, and overlooking potential microaggressions. We use these results to discuss how minority individuals derive a sense of acceptance in contemporary social institutions, which emphasize the importance of diversity and inclusion but show signs of persistent inequality.

Labor Immobility, Stability Discourse, and LGBQ Young Adults’ Career Plans in Japan

“…The study replicated a prior project in the Southeastern US (Ueno et al 2018, 2020) as much as possible. Between 2018 and 2020, I recruited Japanese participants in two regions: (1) the Kanto region, which includes major cities such as Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba; and (2) the Kansai region, which includes Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe.…”

“…The study replicated a prior project in the Southeastern US (Ueno et al 2018(Ueno et al , 2020 as much as possible. Between 2018 and 2020, I recruited Japanese participants in two regions:…”

“…Past research focused mostly on single countries although some non-US studies made implicit comparison with US (e.g., Frye 2012). In the current study, I compare the results based on Japanese LGBQ young adults to previously reported findings from US participants (Ueno et al 2018(Ueno et al , 2020. The equivalence of study designs between the two studies facilitates the cross-cultural comparison.…”

Low-Wage Women’s Experiences of Workplace Incivilities

“…More broadly, we see possible parallels with other vulnerable labor-market groups, as low-wage working women are only a subset of those whose employment depends on enduring indignities. Do the experiences of members of the LGBTQ community mirror those of low-wage women, for example, workers who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender also face insulting comments and jokes (Ueno et al 2020). But different groups may react in different ways; Ueno et al, for example, found that rather than taking umbrage, many LGBTQ respondents explained away insults and instead focused on instances of acceptance.…”

La generación Z y su impacto en la cultura y gestión de personas en las organizaciones

“…Otros movimientos similares, cómo el de la identidad de género o el repunte del feminismo activista de los últimos tiempos, que tienen por fin una sociedad más inclusiva y respetuosa con aquellos colectivos que tradicionalmente han podido ser objeto de discriminación, son susceptibles también de crear un importante impacto en esta generación (Ueno et al, 2020).…”