Race and Gender in Conflict: What Distinguishes the Processes and Outcomes of Intersectional Identities?

Race and gender are two of the most salient social categories and the literature abounds with work examining the independent effects of both categories across social perception. However, in the past few years research on intersectionality has begun to examine the effects of race and gender concurrently on psychological processes that shape employee performance and behavior repertoire in conflict situations. Intersectionality is the study of the meaning and implication of simultaneous membership in multiple social groups (Cole, 2009; Collins, 1991; Crenshaw, 1989; Sanchez-Hucles & Davis, 2010). Research on intersectionality suggests that demographically derived inequity and its corresponding disparities, such as racism and sexism, interrelate, creating a social system of oppression and resulting in numerous forms of social inequality that may be additive (Beale, 1970) or interactive (Bowleg, 2008; Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008).

Recent intersectionality research suggests that race and gender may combine to either accentuate, or sometimes lessen, the bias that women of color experience, relative to those with only one marginalized identity (i.e., White women or men of color). This symposium offers two novel theoretical frameworks and two empirical presentations which begin to explore the complex landscape of race and gender intersectionality, with important implications for conflict and negotiations research as well as organizational diversity best practices. Thus, it addresses when, why, and how race and gender interact to affect important performance outcomes for women of color, as well as Whites and men of color, in both positive and negative ways.