Paradoxes of Intersectionality: Theorizing Inequality in the Dutch Police Force through Structure and Agency

Abstract

While gender and ethnic inequality have been extensively studied in the context of organizations, research into how the intersection of these and other identity categories (re)produces inequality in organizations is still scarce. In this article, we examine inequality from an intersectional perspective in the context of a diverse and multifaceted organization: the Dutch police force. Using data collected through direct observation and focus groups, we analyse how organizational inequality is (re)produced and called into question by drawing on intersecting gender, ethnic and organizational identities. The analysis on the findings through an intersectional lens sheds light onto two paradoxes. The first paradox points to the fact that, by deploying more positive identities to empower themselves, individuals can de facto contribute to reproducing inequalities along those same identity axes. The second suggests, on the contrary, that acknowledging female and ethnic minority officers’ specific valuable competences calls into question inequality along gender and ethnicity within the executive police force. In analysing our material, we approach individuals as agents reflecting and engaging with intersecting identities and the unequal power relations deriving from them. We show that, while they occasionally openly challenge inequality derived from one’s social identity, they often actually reproduce it in order to preserve their own individual power.