Page 66 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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Relational Demography Within
Groups: Through the Lens

of Discrimination

Christine M. Riordan Bryan S. Schaffer
University of Georgia University of North
Carolina, Asheville

Marcus M. Stewart
University of Georgia

Employees today work in diverse environments, consisting of individuals
who are heterogeneous in a variety of personal characteristics, including
age, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, and nationality. This increas­
ingly diverse labor force has motivated both practitioners and scholars
to continue developing an understanding of the nature, dynamics, and
outcomes associated with diversity (e.g., Ely & Thomas, 2001). One ma­
jor theoretical base that has emerged to predict and explain diversity and
its associated phenomena is relational demography theory (Riordan, 2000;
Williams & O'Reilly, 1998). Relational demography theory proposes that
individuals compare their own demographic characteristics with the de­
mographic composition of their social unit to determine if they are similar
or dissimilar (Tsui, Egan, & O'Reilly, 1992; Tsui & O'Reilly, 1989). In turn,
the level of demographic (dis)similarity to the social unit is proposed to
affect individuals' work-related attitudes and behaviors.

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