When the Stars Align: Disruption and the Emergence of Situational Advantage for Socially Disadvantaged Workers

• In Event: 50220 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 9: Racialized Organizations

Abstract

Theories of workplace inequality predict that actors who are more socially privileged have better access to organizational resources. This paper examines an exception, where socially disadvantaged workers received widespread raises, rather than those with more privilege. This exception was the product of what I call situational advantage: leverage which is contingent on the intersection of a), the workplace characteristics within which actors are embedded, with b), the environment in a particular moment. I illustrate the formation of situational advantage through the case of restaurant workers’ wages in a US city. Using data from participant observation and interviews, I show how the intersection of a tight labor market with persistent features of restaurant compensation facilitated widespread wage increases for kitchen jobs (where immigrants and people of color are clustered), but not for servers/bartenders (who tend to be white and/or US-born). Situational advantage can produce unexpected outcomes amid entrenched workplace inequalities.

Author

• Ewa Protasiuk, Temple University