Abstract:

Despite increasing interest in neurodiversity at work, there is limited extant literature about the institutional-level forces that motivate neurodivergent people to conform by masking. Accordingly, this conceptual paper considers how neurodivergent individuals are perceived, labelled, and sanctioned as deviant according to societal expectations of conformity. Informed by Durkheim’s theory of social solidarity, Merton’s strain theory, and Becker’s labelling theory, we theorise that neurodivergence is a unique form of deviance (i.e., neurodeviance) that originates from society rather than from individuals. We argue that neurodivergent individuals who mask to conform and mitigate the perceived risk of social sanctions from deviant labels inadvertently deviate from the authentic self, whereas those who unmask deviate from society. In either case, neurodivergent individuals experience strain from structural pressures, which varies according to whether their societies are characterised as mechanical (i.e., similar) or organic (i.e., different) and is moderated by organisational climates for inclusion. We identify four types of neurodeviance produced by society: disavowed neurodeviance, covered neurodeviance, uncovered neurodeviance, and avowed neurodeviance. Our conceptual model reveals how societies motivate neurodivergent individuals to choose between conflicting ends (i.e., individual type versus collective type), and the inevitability of deviance (i.e., deviant to self versus deviant to society). Our conceptual paper introduces theories of deviance to neurodiversity at work scholarship and advances understanding of concealable stigmatised identities, masking, and disclosure. We conclude by proposing neurodeviance as a distinct subfield within the neurodiversity at work scholarship and call for further inquiry into the mechanisms of organisational climates for inclusion as moderators of neurodeviance.

Please choose your submission type: Full Paper

Primary Track: Human Resource Management

Keywords: Occupational / work / professional identity;Identity construction;Diversity;Social roles

Menu

Prof Michał Tomczak