“This is overcome!” Prejudice justification in banks which have Diversity Management Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to understand the way in which prejudice denial and justification strategies occur inside banks in the South of Minas Gerais, these being the ones that have diversity management programs. Empirically speaking, a qualitative study was done in which 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with bank clerks. The results show that prejudice is present in the bank environment, however, the interviewees do not recognize that it exists in their workplace, and consequently, they look for ways to deny it and justify it. Justification takes the form of strategies of blaming others and the minorities themselves, the ideological reproduction of meritocracy, and the naturalization and overcoming of prejudice. Prejudice denial and justification strategies serve as elements that support the maintenance of hegemonic ideologies of the diversity policies of the organizations.

Keywords

• diversity in organizations
• prejudice
• banking sector