Worshipping equality as organizational idolatry? A Nietzschean view of the normative foundations of the diversity management paradigm

Köllen, Thomas (2020). Worshipping equality as organizational idolatry? A Nietzschean view of the normative foundations of the diversity management paradigm. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 36(2), pp. 1-9. Elsevier 10.1016/j.scaman.2020.101108

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This article critically discusses the morally legitimizing status of ‘equality’ for diversity management (and equal opportunities) from a Nietzschean perspective, for whom the equality of all humans is the “biggest lie of all” (NF‐1885, 37[14]). By applying Nietzsche’s understanding of human relations in terms of the global concept of the will to power, equality can be framed as a form of moral absolutism, in both the critical and the mainstream discourses on diversity. Performatively (re)producing equality as being socially just and an unquestionable value in and of itself can therefore be understood as a mechanism of strategically influencing power relations in an instrumental way. By adding a Nietzschean perspective this article offers new insights into how we consider diversity management, and, more broadly, into the dynamics of (in)equality in organizations.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Business Management > Institute of Organization and Human Resource Management > Human Resource Management
03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Business Management > Institute of Organization and Human Resource Management

UniBE Contributor:

Köllen, Thomas

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 170 Ethics
100 Philosophy > 190 Modern western philosophy
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services
600 Technology > 650 Management & public relations

ISSN:

0956-5221

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Thomas Köllen

Date Deposited:

14 Jul 2020 09:40

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:39

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.scaman.2020.101108

Uncontrolled Keywords:

equality, equal opportunity, diversity management, organizational justice, critical diversity studies, critical management studies, affirmative action, positive discrimination, positive action, quota systems, racial quotas, gender quotas, reverse discrimination, Friedrich Nietzsche

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.145160

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/145160

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