Social exclusion and disability: Exploring the role of ingroup/outgroup dynamics in employment

Abstract

This chapter explores how antidiscrimination employment laws may play out in practice. Integral to the discussions of citizenship is the right to meaningful employment. In the United States, the employment rate of people with disabilities is significantly lower than that of those without disabilities. Although the American welfare state has mandated laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ameliorate employment outcomes for people with disabilities, in practice, it falls short of its intention when recruiting and hiring workers with disabilities. Unlike universal human rights, citizenship rights are based on membership. Therefore, it is worthwhile to investigate the underemployment of individuals with disabilities through the lens of social identity theory and the dynamics of ingroup/outgroup membership. Drawing on qualitative interviews with employer representatives from various sectors, the findings reveal that employers’ “othering” of people with disabilities may lead to underemployment for people with disabilities. The findings further highlight how antidiscrimination employment policies are at the peril of merely reflecting symbolic gestures of inclusion if employers prioritise the outgroup differences of people with disabilities, consequently perpetuating their social exclusion from meaningful employment and, ultimately, the ideals of citizenship.