The role of the marketplace metaphor in creating gender inequities

This case study of the micro‐economic practices within a medium‐sized, four‐year undergraduate college illustrates how the marketplace metaphor has multiple referents within and across different levels and subcultures in the organization. The symbolic construction of a mysterious field of disembodied economic forces beyond the control of internal decision‐makers functioned within the discourse to first obscure and then sustain deeply embedded inequities. The analysis highlights the interplay between organizational structure and symbolic actions, illustrating the ways in which gender is used as an organizational resources at multiple levels within the organization.

Notes

Janice W. Anderson (Ph.D, Penn State University) is Associate Professor of Communication at the State University of New York College at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY12561 ([email protected]). Anderson's research interests revolve around cultural constructions of change and conflict processes. The author wishes to thank the six anonymous reviewers for The New Jersey Journal of Communication who provided insightful or provocative comments that aided the development of this article. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Inaugural Conference of the New Jersey Communication Association, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, April 26, 1997.