Critical standpoint: Leaders of color advancing racial equality in predominantly white organizations

• Author: Brad R. Fulton,Richard L. Wood,Michelle Oyakawa
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21387
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Date: 01 December 2019

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Critical standpoint: Leaders of color advancing

racial equality in predominantly white organizations

Brad R. Fulton

1

| Michelle Oyakawa

2

| Richard L. Wood

3

1

O'Neill School of Public and

Environmental Affairs, Indiana University,

Bloomington, Indiana

2

Sociology, Ohio State University,

Columbus, Ohio

3

Sociology, University of New Mexico,

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Correspondence

Brad R. Fulton, O'Neill School of Public

and Environmental Affairs, Indiana

University, 1315 E. 10th St., Bloomington,

IN 47405.

Email: bradrfulton@gmail.com

Funding information

Louisville Institute; Duke University's

Graduate School and Department of

Sociology; Center for the Study of

Philanthropy and Voluntarism; Religious

Research Association; William K. Kellogg

Foundation; Society for the Scientific Study

of Religion; Hearst Foundation; Interfaith

Funders

Abstract

Organizations are often core sites for the production and

perpetuation of social inequality. Although the United

States is becoming more racially diverse, organizational

elites remain disproportionately white, and this mismatch

contributes to increasing racial inequality. This article

examines whether and how leaders of color within pre-

dominantly white organizations can help their organiza-

tions address racial inequality. Our analysis uses data from

a national study of politically oriented civic organizations

and ethnographic fieldwork within one predominantly

white organization. We draw on institutional work

research, the outsider-within concept, and insights from

critical whiteness theory to explain how leaders of color

can use their position and “critical standpoint”to help

guide their organization toward advancing racial equality.

The qualitative analysis shows how such leaders, when

empowered, help their organization address race internally

by (a) providing alternatives to white-dominated perspec-

tives, (b) developing tools to educate white members

about racial inequality, and (c) identifying and addressing

barriers to becoming a more racially diverse organization.

The qualitative analysis also shows how leaders of color

help their organization address race externally by

(a) sharing personal narratives about living in a white-

dominated society and (b) brokering collaborations with

organizations led by people of color. This research has

implications for organizations seeking to promote social

equality: Organizational leaders from marginalized status

Received: 22 March 2018 Revised: 29 July 2019 Accepted: 8 August 2019

DOI: 10.1002/nml.21387

Nonprofit Management and Leadership. 2019;30:255–276. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/nml © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 255

groups can help their organizations address social inequal-

ity, if those leaders possess a critical standpoint and suffi-

cient organizational authority.

KEYWORDS

community organizing, leadership, nonprofit, organization change, race

1|INTRODUCTION

A critical fact of U.S. society is the mismatch between its increasing racial and ethnic diversity and

the continued predominance of white organizational elites.

1

That mismatch, coupled with dispropor-

tionate white control of wealth and income (Shapiro, Meschede, & Sullivan, 2010), partisan

gerrymandering of districts (Hebert & Jenkins, 2010), and the manipulation of voting laws (Hajnal,

Lajevardi, & Nielson, 2017) results in disproportionate political influence exerted by white people.

Although the United States will soon become a “majority-minority”society, research suggests that

the organized expressions of civil society in the United States will continue to be predominantly

white for years to come (Omi & Winant, 2014). Because organizational life structures political repre-

sentation and democratic skills building (Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995), this overrepresentation

of white people among organizational elites can hinder efforts to advance racial equality. More gen-

erally, this overrepresentation can exacerbate structural racial tension in U.S. society by pitting an

increasingly diverse society against white organizational elites.

Throughout U.S. history, racial and ethnic minorities have led movements for racial equality—

albeit often with involvement from white allies (Morris, 1984). Given the continuing predominance

of white organizational elites, many scholars argue that people of color need white allies in the con-

temporary struggle for racial equality (Warren, 2010). Moreover, the literature on “white anti-racism”

argues on moral grounds that this struggle ought to be primarily the burden of white people

(Ignatiev & Garvey, 1996). However, many white people prefer to adopt a “colorblind”posture,

which often serves to mask structural racism and perpetuate racial inequality (Bonilla-Silva, 2003;

DiAngelo, 2018; Foldy & Buckley, 2014).

Given that people of color have historically led efforts to achieve racial equality, we examine

whether and how leaders of color within predominantly white organizations can help their organiza-

tions do this work. Research on representative leadership suggests this can be done (Clarke, 2006;

Ganz, 2009; Yukich, Fulton, & Wood, forthcoming). However, empirical evidence supporting this

claim is limited, and little is known about precisely how leaders of color might promote racial equal-

ity within predominantly white organizations (Ospina & Foldy, 2010). To help fill this gap, this

study draws on research on “institutional work”—defined as “the purposive action of individuals and

organizations aimed at creating, maintaining and disrupting institutions”(Lawrence & Suddaby,

2006, p. 215)—and combines the “outsider-within”concept (Collins, 1986) with insights from criti-

cal whiteness theory. We argue that some people of color bring into predominantly white contexts a

“critical standpoint”developed through living as a racial minority in a white-dominated society.

When such people are empowered within predominantly white organizations, they can use their posi-

tion and critical standpoint to promote racial equality through institutional work to challenge and

change the organization's white-dominated perspectives and practices. While this article focuses on

the role of leaders of color, it does not absolve white people from their responsibility to address racial

256 FULTON ET AL.