A Systems Psychodynamic Perspective on the Persistence of Racial Inequality at Work

This paper uses systems psychodynamic concepts to develop a theory about the persistence of racial inequality in U.S. companies, treating White men as the dominant group and Black people as an illustrative subordinate group. We theorize that this persistence is rooted in organizational pressures on White men to emulate idealized images of White masculinity, which provoke persistent, unconscious anxiety about failing to embody such images; to fend off this anxiety, organizations and their members mobilize a multi-level defense system. White men use projective identification, an unconscious psychological defense mechanism, whereby they disown feelings that belie their desired masculine image, e.g., feelings of incompetence; project them onto Black people; and treat Black people in a manner intended to evoke those self-same feelings in them, enabling White men to externalize doubts about their self-worth. We further propose that organization-level discourses of rationality, meritocracy, and colorblindness function as an unconscious social defense that fuels these dynamics while diverting attention away from them by constructing a substitute problem: Black peoples’ “shortcomings.” Meanwhile, the real problem—work contexts that threaten White men’s self-worth—remains hidden, and racial inequality persists. We offer guidance on how to interrupt these dynamics by building holding environments in which White men can safely acknowledge and metabolize their anxiety. We conclude by offering theoretical contributions to organizational inequality, masculinity, and systems psychodynamics literatures.