Categorization by Organization: Manipulation of Disability Categories in a Racially Desegregated School District

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Issue Date
2019-07Author
Saatcioglu, Argun
Skrtic, Thomas M.
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
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We propose and test the concept of categorical manipulation, a process in which subordinate group demands for greater access to high status categories are met with reversals in the hierarchy of existing categories. The analysis addresses a school district’s response to pressure from a racial desegregation movement to improve black access to a high status majority-white disability category. The district complied, but it also allowed whites to migrate to a low status majority-black category, from which blacks then were excluded. This category was enhanced with benefits desirable to whites. The original categorical hierarchy was restored during resegregation 20 years later. In categorical manipulation, subordinate groups gain greater access to high status categories, but these categories suffer in value as dominant groups reaffiliate with previously low status categories, which may be revised for improvements. This is different from more familiar forms of resistance to change such as symbolic compliance, ritualization, and tokenism.
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Citation
Saatcioglu, Argun and Thomas M. Skrtic. 2019. “Categorization by Organizations: Race, Manipulation of Mild Disability Categories in a Racially Desegregated School District.” American Journal of Sociology 125:184-260.
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