On the Thunder and the Crops: A Note for Researchers Studying DEI to Make an “Inhabited” Turn

Abstract

What do the recent political challenges to reverse Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in organizations mean for organizations of all types? How can we account for local activity, agency, and change without reverting to the kind of individualism that social scientific approaches to studying organizations was designed to critique ? In this chapter, I propose that scholars can use the tools of the inhabited institutional branch of organizational theory to accompany our research toolkits. The inhabited perspective allows us to understand how cultural ideals, such as diversity or compliance, exert pressure on organizations and how this affects substantive activity within the organization. By drawing attention to the role of meanings, local practices (i.e., social interactions), and the organization’s positioning in the field, we can better understand organizational behavior and take a more critical “turn” in our understanding of this quickly changing landscape. Importantly, the inhabited perspective opens opportunities to consider how people can creatively navigate organizational constraints, and allows scholars to see how people and their interactions may perpetuate or change organizations, rather than being helpless victims to structural forces.