Page 13 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

Preface

Many of the contributors to this book participated in a conference on work­
place discrimination held at Rice University in May 2000. The idea behind
the conference was to bring together major scholars in industrial and orga­
nizational psychology (I/O), who were doing research on the topic, with a
few of the more active researchers in social psychology. For two stimulat­
ing days of presentations, posters, and roundtable discussions, we explored
the research and theory relating to the various areas of workplace discrim­
ination. The idea for the book came from the realization, reinforced in this
conference, that there had been no attempt in the workplace discrimina­
tion literature to bring together the research and theory on the topic. We
sought to bring together in one volume a review of the scholarly work on
discrimination based on race, age, sexual orientation, gender, physical ap­
pearance, disability, and personality. In addition, we attempted to explore
the multilevel antecedents and potential bases for a general model of dis­
crimination in the workplace. Although social psychological research and
theory have provided invaluable insights, an understanding of discrim­
ination in the workplace and solutions requires incorporating factors at
the organizational, individual, and group levels. We do not claim to have
arrived at a definitive model, but we hope that the several initial attempts
here will facilitate future attempts at integration of the diverse work on
this topic.
In the review of the research related to specific areas of discrimination,
we have intentionally focused on the groups that have received the most
attention and have given relatively little attention to other ethnic and racial
groups, such as Jews, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Our inattention
was a reflection of the amount of research in the workplace and was not
meant to suggest that discrimination against these other groups is infre­
quent or unimportant.
The reader should also be aware, as might be expected with a topic as
controversial as this, that the authors in this volume probably differ to some
extent in their views on the nature of discrimination and the preferred solu­
tions. Consequently, the reader should not attribute the views expressed in

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