Journal of Business Ethics Call for Papers

Abilities and ableism as ethical dilemmas of organizing

Journal of Business Ethics Call for Papers
Abilities and ableism as ethical dilemmas of organizing

Guest Co-Editors 
Anica Zeyen, School of Business and Management, Royal Holloway University of London (corresponding)
Oana Branzei, Ivey Business School, Western University
Susanne Bruyere, Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, Cornell University
Silvia Dorado-Banacloche, University of Massachusetts Boston
Eline Jammaers, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations, Université Catholique de Louvain
Nidhi Singal, The Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge
Gregor Wolbring, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

Submission deadline: 31^st March 2022

We will hold three paper development workshops: 14^th June, 13^th September and 13^th December 2021 at 1-5pmGMT / 8am to noon EST . If you are interested and would like to present a full paper, please get in touch with the corresponding guest co-editor Anica Zeyen (anica.zeyen@rhul.ac.uk ). Participation at any of these is NOT a prerequisite for submitting to this Special Thematic Issue. Publication decisions are solely based on the review process of the Journal of Business Ethics.

The disability community is the largest minority in the world (UN Enable, 2020). Simply understood as a socially-sanctioned preference for species-typical normative abilities, (dis)ableism directly affects one billion people as about 15% of the global population are disabled (WHO, 2019). 

Disableism refers to the discrimination of disabled people. Ableism points to the preference for norm and normative bodies and minds (Campbell 2009). (Dis)ableism undergirds, and informs, any structural oppression based on differences in our bodies, minds, and (perceived or presumed) abilities (Goodley, 2010). Normative mind-body differences lie at the root of several –isms including racism, sexism, class/casteism, nationalism, colonialism, GDP-ism, consumerism, specism and (anti)environmentalism (Wolbring 2008, p. 253). Feminist, critical race, queer, post-colonial and post-human theories, among others, draw attention to abilities and ableism at work.

This thematic issue foregrounds the role of abilities and ableism as ethical dilemmas vital to inclusive organizing. Despite their ubiquity in organizations, (dis)abilities and (dis)ableism have been only scarcely studied thus far in management journals (for recent exceptions, see Jammaers & Zanoni, 2020; Martin & Honig, 2020). By problematizing, and revising, the boundary between (dis)ability and ability, we call out othering based on mind-body differences (Davis, 2002) and invite instead the discovery of commonalities and complementaries.

We hope that making the mind-body continuum a focal point of theorizing will awaken and amplify attention to more inclusive ethical practices in future workplaces. This thematic issue promotes anti-(dis)ableist research at all levels, from the micro to the meta. Following are some potential avenues to deepen insights into (dis)abilities and (dis)ableism as ethical dilemmas: the body-mind continuum, meaning in-the-making, and ethics of care.

More information: Link to Thematic Symposium Call for Paper

References

Campbell, F.K. (2009). Contours of Ableism: The Production of Disability and Abledness. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Davis, L.J. (2002). Bending Over Backwards. Disability, Dismodernism and Other Difficult Positions. New York: New York University Press.
Goodley, D. (2010). Disability: Psyche, Culture and Society. London: Sage.
Jammaers, E., & Zanoni, P. (2020). The identity regulation of disabled employees: Unveiling the 'varieties of ableism' in employers' socio-ideological control. Organization Studies, https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0170840619900292
Martin, B. C., & Honig, B. (2020). Inclusive management research: Persons with disabilities and self-employment activity as an exemplar. Journal of Business Ethics, 166, 553–557.
UN Enable (2020). Fact sheet on people with disabilities, https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/toolaction/pwdfs.pdf
WHO (2019). Disability and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health. Accessed 10 August 2019