RESEARCH
Despite substantial changes, particular social groups are still underrepresented in work and education fields. Examples of such underrepresentation are students from lower socio-economic backgrounds in higher education, ethnic minorities in various work and education fields, and women in traditionally male-dominated fields such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), the police force, and the military.
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My research program examines the social identity processes involved in group inequalities in work and education settings. My two main streams of research examine (1) how, when, and why social identities act as a barrier in achievement, well-being, and choices in work and education; and (2) how members of underrepresented groups navigate majority-group contexts and cope with the challenges they face in work and education. In this research, my collaborators and I combine longitudinal and experience sampling studies in both naturalistic settings and organizations with lab experiments.
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See below for a summary of our research in these two streams.
HOW, WHEN, AND WHY DO SOCIAL IDENTITIES ACT AS A BARRIER?
The research I have conducted with by collaborators shows that belonging plays a key role in understanding how social identities act as a barrier in achievement and choices. For example, experiencing difficulties with obtaining a sense of social belonging and low identity-compatibility partly help explain the academic achievement gap between first- and continuing-generation students (GPIR, 2019). Additionally, anticipating that belonging will be more difficult to obtain in certain STEM fields (e.g., computer science) compared to others (e.g., biology) makes that high school girls distance from these fields, and pulls girls towards other STEM fields in which they anticipate comparatively more belonging (SPOE, 2021).
representation
is vital
otherwise the butterfly
surrounded by a group of moths
unable to see itself
will keep trying to become the moth