Neglected under the law: A typology of stigmatization and effective employment protections

Johnson, Andrew F.; Roberto, Katherine J.; Black, Stephanie L.; Ahamad, Faiz

doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2021.100873

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…On the whole, our field describes that fatter employees experience robust deficits in objective career success. Further, fatter employees represent a group of people whose level of stigmatization is high and who receive little protection under employment law (e.g., very few jurisdictions outlaw weight-based discrimination), making them a “susceptible class”—vulnerable to exploitation (A. F. Johnson et al, 2021).…”

Section: The Current State Of Weight-based Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, organizational psychologists who more accurately understand why weight-based mistreatment occurs from more process-oriented models of predation can be in a better position to council organizations on proactive measures to stem just prejudicial action, effectively providing organizations with advice on early warning signs that mistreatment will likely occur. This also suggests said advice can improve protection and support of vulnerable, “susceptible” employees, which is a valiant disciplinary goal (A. F. Johnson et al, 2021).…”

Section: Applied Effects Of Controllability Of Weight and Deservednes...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Best practices for weight at work research

Lemmon,

Jensen,

Kuljanin

2023

Ind. Organ. Psychol.

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Popular and influential social commentators have called organizations complicit in perpetuating weight-based bias and mistreatment. Although our field has advanced our understanding of the economic consequences of being fat at work (e.g., salary; job performance; and promotions), we urgently need more research on the interpersonal experiences of this swath of workers so that we can appropriately advise organizations. In this article, we describe how organizational psychology researchers can answer this call to do more research on weight at work (a) even while feeling uncomfortable with a topic that can feel personal, medicalized, and/or overly intertwined with other DEI-based topics; (b) by incorporating insightful research from outside disciplines that centers weight controllability and weight-based mistreatment deservedness; and, critically, (c) while approaching weight at work research with a respectfulness that conveys an understanding of the complexities intertwining weight, health, and personal agency. In culmination, this article offers to our field a flexible, living document entitled Best Practices for Weight-Based Research in Organizational Studies.

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Section: The Current State Of Weight-based Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Applied Effects Of Controllability Of Weight and Deservednes...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Best practices for weight at work research

Lemmon,

Jensen,

Kuljanin

2023

Ind. Organ. Psychol.

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“…Allyship advocacy behaviors present a tall order for weight-based discrimination researchers. Indeed, weight-based discrimination has been classified on the high end of susceptibility to mistreatment at macro-levels, according to the employment protections and stigmatization classification model (Johnson et al, 2021), which considers the high level of stigmatization (via morality beliefs and perceived controllability of weight), the increasing prevalence of anti-fat bias (Andreyeva et al, 2008), and the absence of nondiscrimination corporate policies and federal legislation. Thus, researchers should seek out local opportunities for advocacy, such as speaking up in one’s research for nondiscrimination policies on the basis of body size, campaigning for nondiscrimination legislation with empirically-based information, contributing to advocacy organizations addressing weight-stigma, or (perhaps most importantly) confronting weight-stigma when it occurs—on paper or in-person.…”

Section: Strategies To Combat Weight-based Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Becoming and acting as an ally against weight-based discrimination

Waterbury,

Martinez,

Bernard

et al. 2024

Ind. Organ. Psychol.

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“…We can tease apart what it means to be both larger‐bodied and brown‐skinned; or to be larger‐bodied and a woman of a certain age; or to be larger‐bodied and identify as a minority sexually. Precisely defining the physical ideal relative not just to weight, but other demography as well, captures most accurately the lived experiences of those in a larger‐bodied body, where, potentially, objectified identities additively (or, frustratingly, multiplicatively) offer advantage or disadvantage (Hester, Payne, Brown‐Iannuzzi, & Gray, 2020; Mason, 2012; Moore‐Berg & Karpinski, 2021) and varying degrees of legal protection (Johnson, Roberto, et al., 2021). Weight, then, can be viewed by researchers as a factor that amplifies already‐afforded social privilege to certain groups and, conversely, perhaps its privilege amounts to not much (i.e.…”

Section: Foreground: Weight‐based Stigma Through the Lens Of Objectif...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Antifat attitudes take root at work, too, with researchers thoroughly documenting formal discrimination against larger‐bodied people – in hiring, compensation, training and development opportunities, and performance evaluations, including assessments of suitability, upward mobility, and anticipated career success (see for example: Agerström & Rooth, 2011; Judge & Cable, 2011; King et al., 2014; Lee, Ahn, Kim, & Han, 2019; Roehling, Pichler, & Bruce, 2013; Roehling, Roehling, Vandlen, Blazek, & Guy, 2009; Vanhove & Gordon, 2014). Compounding this, formal discrimination leaves little policy‐based or legal recourse for larger‐bodied workers (Johnson, Roberto, Black, & Ahamad, 2021). Mistreatment of larger‐bodied people extends to interpersonal bullying as incivility spreads in the professional space, with research documenting that 75% of self‐identified larger‐bodied workers report experiencing one or more forms of weight stigma at work within the prior six months (Lemmon & Jensen, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A primer with purpose: Research implications of the objectification of weight in the workplace

Lemmon

Jensen

Kuljanin

2021

J Occupat & Organ Psyc

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We offer a primer for researchers who seek to carry out studies that evaluate the lived experience of larger‐bodied workers. We use objectification theory to describe the process by which intraculturally‐determined body size preferences impact how observers think about and react to larger‐bodied colleagues, and how these larger‐bodied colleagues internalize and cope with these judgements. Arguing that exploration of the objectification of larger‐bodied professionals is incomplete without the use of multidisciplinary lenses, we describe mechanisms that reinforce weight stigma, including the role of healthism‐based value systems, intersectionality, and body image. We conclude the primer by outlining areas for new research that highlights burgeoning applied demand for more nuanced, evidence‐based discussions of weight at work. Practitioner points In professional spaces, many workers feel comfortable “objectifying” their colleagues who occupy larger (i.e., “overweight”/”obese”) bodies. This means that workers (a) constantly compare their colleagues’ bodies to a “thin” standard, (b) feel a certain comfort in remarking on their larger‐bodied colleagues’ size, and (c) this judgment feeds into a cycle of self‐consciousness and self‐dislike that many larger‐bodied workers feel about themselves. This objectification process can be doubly harmful to the well‐being of larger‐bodied workers when they, too, occupy a secondary marginalized identity/ies, such as being female or of a minority ethnicity. The motivation for objectification comes from broader Western culture, which views the pursuit of health as a value that all people should pursue. Workers often assume their larger‐bodied colleagues are not pursuing health simply because of their size and can feel punitive toward them as a result. Organizational remedies for this objectification process include educational programming and training to talk about the myriad ways “health” may be realized; more precise information about the complex origin’s of one’s body size; education around how marginalization of larger‐bodied colleagues does not stimulate effective action, but instead harms these colleague’s mental health (and beyond).

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Neglected under the law: A typology of stigmatization and effective employment protections

Cited by 6 publications

References 70 publications

Best practices for weight at work research

Best practices for weight at work research

Becoming and acting as an ally against weight-based discrimination

A primer with purpose: Research implications of the objectification of weight in the workplace

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