Token Character - Tokenism in The Workplace

Tokenism in The Workplace

In tokenism theory, first articulated by Rosabeth Moss Kanter in 1977, a token is a person who is part of a skewed or minority group, making up less than 15% of the total workplace population. She notes that the minority status of these tokens leads to several issues in the workplace. Tokens are subject to higher scrutiny from coworkers and superiors, and often have stereotypes attributed to them by the dominant group. Tokens also find their individuality compromised as they are viewed as representatives of their group. Kanter breaks these problems down into three terms: heightened visibility, assimilation, and exclusion.

Due to their numerical rarity and the resulting heightened visibility in the workplace, tokens often deal with above average amounts of pressure on their performance and behavior. According to Kanter, tokens are even more visible if (1) the token's social category is physically obvious, as in the case of sex, and (2) the token's social type is not only rare but also new to the setting of the majority group. The increased visibility serves to make mistakes more salient. Those with weaker performances are more heavily reprimanded, and as these minorities are often thought of as representatives of an entire group, rather than individuals, their perceived failures are often attributed to that group.

Due to the small size of the token group, uniqueness from one another is not typically observed by members of the dominant group, who will often apply stereotypical roles to tokens. Though these roles are often misinformed and exaggerated, tokens will often conform to them, as it gives them an identity easily accessible to others.

Perceived differences between the majority group and token group often become magnified as a means of excluding tokens. For example, in a group in which men are the majority, their behavior often becomes much more sexual and aggressive in nature. However, while in a more equally mixed group, interactions come to a medium of shared interests. As a result of this practice, minorities assert themselves as the exception to the rule; women may join in with misogynistic behaviors, and a person from a particular ethnic background and cultural upbringing may mask certain aspects of their character to intentionally conform to the majority. A member of the token group who does not do this may instead conform more closely to stereotypes applied to them, and allow themselves to become a humorous "punching bag", becoming the butt of jokes based on their differences from the majority.