From Sheltered to Included: The Emancipation of Disabled Workers from Benevolent Marginalization
研究德国庇护工场中残疾工人如何从被动的受保护身份转向自我决定身份，并推动组织从“庇护”向“包容”转变，揭示了仁慈边缘化下的解放是合作而非对抗的过程。
While there have been several studies on overt forms of marginalization, few have examined benevolent marginalization, where people may unquestioningly participate in their own paternalistic subjugation by following a prescribed identity. How might such individuals end up achieving emancipation from an infantilizing identity? To address this puzzle, we conducted a longitudinal study of a German sheltered workshop, an organization providing employment for disabled people. We observed that workers with disability initially maintained a regulating organizational identity based on paternalistic segregation. However, over time, they constructed their own self-determining identity and coproduced a change in the workshop’s identity from “shelter” to “inclusion.” First, we show that in order to coconstruct their preferred self-concept, benevolently marginalized individuals need to gain the support of those in power, who change their role from a guardian to an ally. Second, while achieving liberation from overt marginalization is likely to involve confrontation with one’s oppressors, we suggest that achieving emancipation from benevolent marginalization is a collaborative process of mutual consciousness raising and sensitization. Third, while changes of identity may occur after exposure to alternative discourses, often involving the contentious performances of external activists, we show how insider activists mobilize collective action for change within a protectionist organization.