Chapter 1: Motives for Dominating and Excluding Forgotten minorities in Organizations

People have long made invidious distinctions between individuals (e.g., the clean and the unclean, good and evil, black and white, sacred and profane, etc.) (Smith, 1995), and these distinctions affect the degree to which individuals experience prejudice, unfair discrimination, and oppression in organizations and society as a whole. Although there may be a number of reasons for these distinctions, we use several theories in this chapter (e.g., social dominance theory, and cultural racism) to explain why people are motivated to divide individuals into dominant in-groups and subordinate out-groups (Durkheim, 1973; Sidanius et al., 1992; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999; Tajfel & Turner, 1979). For example, we review the basic tenets of social dominance and cultural racism theories and consider how they can be used to increase our understanding of the exclusion of out-group members or individuals we label “forgotten minorities.” We also review the topics of the chapters included in this volume (e.g., autism, anxiety disorders, people with disabilities engaging in self-employment, adverse impact against people with disabilities, veterans, people with a criminal history, the working poor, considering socioeconomic status in organizational research, and Native Americans).