The Department of Sociology Presents: Dr. Christine Williams
On Friday, February 9, 2024, the Sociology Colloquium Series will feature Dr. Christine Williams. Dr. Christine L. Williams is Professor of Sociology and the Elsie and Stanley E. (Skinny) Adams, Sr. Centennial Professor in Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on gender, race, and class inequality in the workplace. She has written about gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and homophobia in a wide range of workplace settings, most recently in the oil and gas industry. Professor Williams is the recipient of the American Sociological Association's Jessie Bernard Award and the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Career Award; she also received the Distinguished Lecturer Award and the Feminist Mentor Award given by Sociologists for Women in Society. She served as the 111th President of the American Sociological Association in 2020.
Colloquia Title and Topic:
Gaslighted: D.E.I. in the Oil and Gas Industry
The oil and gas industry is one of the largest, most lucrative, and politically powerful industries in the world, and yet it includes very few women. In this talk, I discuss the industry’s efforts to promote diversity. I argue that these efforts may enhance corporate reputations but they do little to change its gender and racial composition. I will discuss how white women scientists in the oil and gas industry experience this “organizational gaslighting.” I conclude by addressing the current backlash against DEI policies, suggesting that the hegemonic gender regime of gaslighting may be replaced with a despotic gender regime that openly endorses white male domination.
