Authors
Laura E Wallace, Stephanie L Reeves, Steven J Spencer
Publication date
2024/4/16
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume
121
Issue
16
Pages
e2313878121
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Description
Many mainstream organizations celebrate their historical successes. In their history, however, they often marginalized racial minorities, women, and other underrepresented groups. We suggest that when organizations celebrate their histories, even without mentioning historical marginalization, they can undermine belonging and intentions to join the organization among historically marginalized groups. Four experiments demonstrate that Black participants who were exposed to an organization that celebrated their history versus the present showed reduced belonging and intentions to participate in the organization. These effects were mediated by expectations of biased treatment in the organization. Further, when organizations had a history of Black people in power, celebrating history was no longer threatening, highlighting that the negative effects of celebrating history are most likely when organizations are or are …
Scholar articles
LE Wallace, SL Reeves, SJ Spencer - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2024