Social change, backlash, and resistance in organizations

Éditeurs invités

• Sarah Richard, Audencia Business School
• Lucie Noury, Audencia Business School
• Pauline de Becdelièvre, Université Paris Saclay
• Céline Louche, Waikato Management School—University of Waikato
• Stéphan Pezé, Université Toulouse Capitole

Synthèse

The production and dissemination of knowledge, particularly on inequalities, climate change, and biodiversity, are increasingly under attack. These attacks are reflected in some political and administrative decisions adopted across several national contexts, such as the measures taken by President Donald Trump since his return to power. Beyond the US, academic freedom is being directly or indirectly undermined in many countries. For example, in France, controversies surrounding 'Islamo-leftism' within universities, reignited by the Minister of Higher Education, have been accompanied by concrete attacks on several scientific institutions.

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Thèmes proposés

• What are the different forms of backlash affecting organizations? Are there 'invisible' forms of backlash?
• How and to what extent does backlash contribute to the deinstitutionalization of established norms (e.g. ESG, DEI, climate)?
• What forms of institutional work produce or hinder backlash?
• What roles do different modes of governance and different forms of organization play in weakening or, conversely, protecting social progress? Are democratic organizations, in particular, more or less prone to backlash?
• How do organizations respond, resist, protect themselves, and participate in backlash?
• What are the risks, uncertainties, and tensions generated by backlash? How can they be managed?
• What forms of collective response are organized to face backlash (e.g. meta-organizations, networks, lobbying)?
• How do individuals participate in or resist backlash (e.g. through employee activism)?
• What is the impact of backlash on individuals (identity, career paths, values, social representations, experience)?
• How does backlash transform or disrupt individuals' relationships with work and the company?
• What forms of individual and collective resistance to backlash can be observed? What are the conditions and effects of this resistance?
• What is the role of researchers and what stance should they adopt in response to this phenomenon?
• What methodological and epistemological approaches are best suited to studying backlash, its mechanisms, and its consequences? What methodological innovations are needed to better understand its contemporary forms?
• How can organizational theory contribute to understanding the phenomenon of backlash?
• What are the multi-level interactions between societal, organizational, and individual backlash?
• How can backlash contribute to the emergence of other backlashes?