Gaslighting: The art of driving minority groups mad at work

This research aims to understand the extent to which gaslighting actions occur in the work environment. To this end, we conducted an empirical survey, in which we visited 37 companies of different sizes, in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and interviewed 72 workers of different psychographic traits. These interviews and our fieldnotes were subjected to Critical Discourse Analysis. We identified two categories a priori, (“racial gaslighting” and “misogynistic gaslighting”), two emerging ones (“LGBTQIAP + -phobic gaslighting” and “instrumental gaslighting”) and built the axial, called “pecuniarygaslighting”. The field revealed that gaslighting occurs in all types of companies and is a manipulation strategy exercised by heterosexual white men not only on non-hegemonic groups, but against their peers. This study brings as managerial implications and theory, thediscussion and reflection on how discriminatory practices have been naturalized and marginalized, not only in the field of studies, but in the organizational culture.