51吃瓜网

Koji Chavez

Indiana University

The Diversity Buffer: How the Organization of Diversity Work in the Software Engineering Hiring Process Enables Diversity 鈥淗appy Talk鈥�

Date: Friday January 9, 2026
Time:10:30 AM -12:00 PM
Location: Virtual (ZOOM)

All are cordially invited to attend.

Abstract:

Sociologists have long noted the pervasiveness of diversity 鈥渉appy talk鈥濃�攑ositive, but abstract and superficial discourse about topics related to diversity鈥攚ithin U.S. work organizations. Yet its prevalence is puzzling given that many organizations are attempting to increase diversity (perhaps until recently), and engagement in such work can undermine happy talk. This article offers a novel explanation by examining how the work of increasing diversity is structured within organizations. Drawing on in-depth interviews with recruiters, interview evaluators, and management involved in software engineering hiring, the authors compare discourse across positions regarding their firms鈥� diversity efforts. The authors argue that happy talk persists within organizations because the work and responsibility of increasing diversity鈥攚hich threatens happy talk鈥攊s structurally confined to recruiters, a small, low-status group. The authors call this structural confinement the diversity buffer and examine its key components. The diversity buffer represents an understudied reason for the ubiquity of diversity happy talk in organizational life.