Who Deserves to Be Included? Diffraction of Diversity and Inclusion in Swedish International Organizations

Abstract

My thesis explores how diffraction on D&I is created by the entanglement of the nature of institution (institutional will and wall) and dissemination of neoliberal rationality, and how it perpetuates power relations that creates inequality and exclusion. I will explore this through critical discourse and intersectionality analysis thereby aiming to offer suggestions to improve diversity and inclusion (D&I) work at the Swedish organizations. Currently, many Swedish firms are actively working on enhancing diversity and inclusion within their institutions. However, as scholars point out, institutional commitment to democratic values including diversity and inclusion is taking different forms than social justice context, such as companies’ profitability and productivity become motivations in D&I work rather than mitigating inequality and oppression (Brown, 2005; Knights & Omanović, 2016). The goals of writing this thesis is to suggest how D&I work can be further improved as a means of mitigating inequality and exclusion of employees, especially those who are underrepresented in the workplace.