Diversity, religiosity, and spirituality in the workplace

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the ways in which attention to diversity and to the sociopolitical conditions that lead to discrimination and marginalization would complicate extant discourses about workplace spirituality. We posit that critical attention to differences in social identity, social location, and attendant power relationships would force scholars in this area of study to reconsider several foundational questions: first, attention to the lived experience of people from diverse backgrounds and histories would force us to broaden our view and definition of work. Second, we would be compelled to think more broadly and more critically about what we define as workplaces. Third, attending in critical ways to matters of diversity would compel us to think about religiosity and spirituality as landscapes of diversity. Finally, we would be compelled to consider theoretical approaches that would allow us to explore the reality that the workplace is a space in which the complex sociohistorical and sociopolitical dynamics of race, gender, class, immigrant status, sexuality, and other identity statuses are reproduced, and to understand the ways that individuals and institutions use religion and spirituality to engage, cope with, or obscure those complexities. We address each of these issues in turn, and we conclude with a brief set of recommendations for future work in the field.