The dynamics of privilege: How employees of a multinational corporation construct and contest the privileging effects of English proficiency

Abstract

In this article we analyze how privilege is dynamically constructed as well as contested. A positioning analysis of interviews with employees of a multinational organization reveals the construction of a hierarchy of privilege. As this hierarchy is based on English proficiency along with other diversity dimensions, privilege is multifaceted. Furthermore, privilege is also contested. Contesting English‐proficiency–related privilege is connected to the speaker's position in the hierarchy of privilege. The analysis shows that both category membership and specific competences and skills cumulate to produce privileging effects, but also the possibilities for contesting privilege. At the same time, although the privilege gained by English proficiency is not invisible and is regularly contested, it is nevertheless silenced by those in advantage.

Male privilege revisited: How men in female‐dominated occupations notice and actively reframe privilege

“…Similar activities have been reported with regards to privilege received on the grounds of language proficiency. Native speakers are said to regularly engage in practices that moderate the privileging effect of speaking fluently (Gaibrois & Nentwich, 2020). Additionally, a very recent study by Niemistö et al., (2020) illustrates how privilege is mitigated.…”

“…While some men in particular female‐dominated occupations are privileged and are hence riding the “glass escalator”, this might not be the case in other contexts (Wingfield & Myles, 2014). Hence, privilege is “unevenly distributed” and “not monolithic” (Coston & Kimmel, 2012, p. 97) but rather contextual and dynamic (Atewologun & Sealy, 2014, p. 424; Gaibrois & Nentwich, 2020) and particularly situated in local social relationships (Korvajärvi, 1998). In sum, there is an ample body of research showing how patterns of privilege become more complex when intersectionality and context are taken into account (Lund et al., 2019; Mooney et al., 2017; Sang & Calvard, 2019).…”

“It’s hard for them to even understand what we are saying”(.) Language and power in the multinational workplace

“…Through the lens of critical discursive psychology, Gaibrois and Nentwich’s (2020) research on privileging effect of language also illustrates the connection between English proficiency and organisational status. Yet, unlike Neeley and Dumas’s (2016) reading of privilege as predetermined and retained by dominant language groups, Gaibrois and Nentwich (2020) provide a more dynamic understanding of privilege, arguing that L1 speakers’ privileged position is actively enacted by the speakers and also “contested” by L2 speakers. In this view, privilege is “not fixed” to a particular social group, but discursively constructed by actors (Gaibrois and Nentwich, 2020, p. 470).…”

“…This is commonly observed in other studies (Millar, 2017) showing the relationship between global ideologies and the local hierarchies in MNCs, suggesting the significance of the role that language ideologies play in constructing power relationships among the speakers at workplace. Through the lens of critical discursive psychology, Gaibrois and Nentwich’s (2020) research on privileging effect of language also illustrates the connection between English proficiency and organisational status. Yet, unlike Neeley and Dumas’s (2016) reading of privilege as predetermined and retained by dominant language groups, Gaibrois and Nentwich (2020) provide a more dynamic understanding of privilege, arguing that L1 speakers’ privileged position is actively enacted by the speakers and also “contested” by L2 speakers.…”

“…International business (IB) language-sensitive research has increasingly pointed towards the relationship between language and power in multinational organisations (Śliwa and Johansson, 2014; Gaibrois and Nentwich, 2020). Yet in the field there is scarce work that approaches participants’ talk about language as a situated encounter in which language ideologies are (re)produced or challenged.…”