IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v199y2025i4d10.1007_s10551-024-05827-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Racial Justice Without Character: Business Ethics, Diversity Training, and Distributed Cognition

Author

Listed:
  • Abraham Singer

    (Quinlan School of Business, Loyola University Chicago)

Abstract

This paper challenges the “characterological” theory of racial injustice. This theory, widely held in corporate efforts to address race, simultaneously endorses a “structural” account of racism while advocating deeply individualistic remedies: challenging systemic racism, on this view, requires directing our energies inward toward our most ingrained habits and self-conceptions. I begin by reconstructing the characterological theory and its appeal. I then argue that it rests on questionable, if not untenable, cognitive assumptions. Instead of seeing racism as carried forth by agents’ deeply internal characters, I argue that a structural account of racial domination is better served by understanding cognitive processes as externalized and conducted through our environments. Drawing on theories of the “extended mind” and distributed cognition, I offer an account of both structural racism’s persistence and individual racist actions, which is anchored in the environmental (and not characterological) manifestations of racial hierarchy. I conclude with the normative potential of business ethicists adopting the distributed cognition framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Abraham Singer, 2025. "Racial Justice Without Character: Business Ethics, Diversity Training, and Distributed Cognition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 199(4), pages 715-729, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:199:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-024-05827-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05827-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-024-05827-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-024-05827-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berkey, Brian, 2021. "Rawlsian Institutionalism and Business Ethics: Does It Matter Whether Corporations Are Part of the Basic Structure of Society?," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(2), pages 179-209, April.
    2. Abraham Singer, 2023. "What Sal Owes Mookie: What Do The Right Thing and Mangrove Teach us About Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 419-427, December.
    3. Christof Brandtner & Gordon C. C. Douglas & Martin Kornberger, 2023. "Where Relational Commons Take Place: The City and its Social Infrastructure as Sites of Commoning," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(4), pages 917-932, May.
    4. repec:cup:buetqu:v:29:y:2019:i:01:p:127-141_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Nneka Logan, 2019. "Corporate Personhood and the Corporate Responsibility to Race," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 977-988, February.
    6. Singer, Abraham, 2015. "There Is No Rawlsian Theory of Corporate Governance," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(1), pages 65-92, January.
    7. Wanda J Orlikowski, 2006. "Material knowing: the scaffolding of human knowledgeability," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 460-466, October.
    8. Penelope Muzanenhamo & Rashedur Chowdhury, 2023. "A Critique of Vanishing Voice in Noncooperative Spaces: The Perspective of an Aspirant Black Female Intellectual Activist," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 15-29, February.
    9. Chowdhury, Rashedur, 2021. "Self-Representation of Marginalized Groups: A New Way of Thinking through W. E. B. Du Bois," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(4), pages 524-548, October.
    10. Colin Wight, 2003. "The Agent–Structure Problem and Institutional Racism," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 51(4), pages 706-721, December.
    11. Andrew J. Stier & Sina Sajjadi & Fariba Karimi & Luís M. A. Bettencourt & Marc G. Berman, 2024. "Implicit racial biases are lower in more populous more diverse and less segregated US cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Rashedur Chowdhury, 2021. "The Mobilization of Noncooperative Spaces: Reflections from Rohingya Refugee Camps," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 914-921, May.
    13. Alzola, Miguel, 2012. "The Possibility of Virtue," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 377-404, April.
    14. Christof Brandtner & Gordon Douglas & Martin Kornberger, 2023. "Where Relational Commons Take Place : The City and its Social Infrastructure as Sites of Commoning," Post-Print hal-04325671, HAL.
    15. Kaufmann, Lauren, 2022. "Feminist Epistemology and Business Ethics," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(4), pages 546-572, October.
    16. Daniel S. Lacerda & Fabio B. Meira & Vanessa Brulon, 2021. "Spatial Ethics Beyond the North–South Dichotomy: Moral Dilemmas in Favelas," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(4), pages 695-707, July.
    17. Singer, Abraham & Ron, Amit, 2020. "Prioritizing Democracy: A Commentary on Smith’s Presidential Address to the Society for Business Ethics," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 139-153, January.
    18. David Rönnegard & N. Craig Smith, 2024. "A Rawlsian Rule for Corporate Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(2), pages 295-308, March.
    19. Blanc, Sandrine, 2016. "Are Rawlsian Considerations of Corporate Governance Illiberal? A Reply to Singer," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 407-421, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Penelope Muzanenhamo & Rashedur Chowdhury, 2023. "A Critique of Vanishing Voice in Noncooperative Spaces: The Perspective of an Aspirant Black Female Intellectual Activist," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 15-29, February.
    2. Abraham Singer, 2023. "What Sal Owes Mookie: What Do The Right Thing and Mangrove Teach us About Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 419-427, December.
    3. David Rönnegard & N. Craig Smith, 2024. "A Rawlsian Rule for Corporate Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(2), pages 295-308, March.
    4. Rashedur Chowdhury, 2023. "Misrepresentation of Marginalized Groups: A Critique of Epistemic Neocolonialism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 553-570, September.
    5. Ali Mir & Saadia Toor, 2024. "The Business of Stealing Futures: Race, Gender, and the Student Debt Regime," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(4), pages 765-784, September.
    6. Magali Fia & Lorenzo Sacconi, 2019. "Justice and Corporate Governance: New Insights from Rawlsian Social Contract and Sen’s Capabilities Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(4), pages 937-960, December.
    7. Yuliya Shymko & Sandrine Frémeaux, 2022. "Escaping the Fantasy Land of Freedom in Organizations: The Contribution of Hannah Arendt," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(2), pages 213-226, March.
    8. Yuliya Shymko & Sandrine Frémeaux, 2021. "Escaping the Fantasy Land of Freedom in Organizations: The Contribution of Hannah Arendt," Post-Print hal-03597131, HAL.
    9. Klaser, Klaudijo & Pinar García, Lucía Desamparados, 2023. "Zero-rating and prioritization in Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic: a Rawlsian perspective on net neutrality," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    10. David Murillo & Pau Guinart & Daniel Arenas, 2025. "The Ethics of Commons Organizing: A Critical Reading," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 3-20, January.
    11. András Miklós, 2019. "Exploiting Injustice in Mutually Beneficial Market Exchange: The Case of Sweatshop Labor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 59-69, April.
    12. Ladds, Emma & Greenhalgh, Trisha & Byng, Richard & Rybczynska-Bunt, Sarah & Kalin, Asli & Shaw, Sara, 2023. "A contemporary ontology of continuity in general practice: Capturing its multiple essences in a digital age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    13. Nuno Ornelas Martins, 2018. "Justice and the Social Ontology of the Corporation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 17-28, November.
    14. Rafael Morales-Sánchez & Carmen Cabello-Medina, 2013. "The Role of Four Universal Moral Competencies in Ethical Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 717-734, September.
    15. Argandoña, Antonio, 2017. "Humility and Decision Making in Companies," IESE Research Papers D/1164, IESE Business School.
    16. Sorin M. S. Krammer & Peter Dahlin & Jonathan P. Doh & Kristina Potočnik, 2024. "Happy Diamond Anniversary JMS! A Decade Analysis of the Journal of Management Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 1654-1682, June.
    17. Abraham Singer, 2018. "Justice Failure: Efficiency and Equality in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 97-115, April.
    18. Sofia Villo & Natalya Turkina, 2023. "How do Russian National Systems of Institutional Absences Shape Insensitive Corporate Environmental Violence of a Russian Extractive Multinational Corporation?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 315-331, June.
    19. Karol Marek Klimczak & Alejo José G. Sison & Maria Prats & Maximilian B. Torres, 2022. "How to Deter Financial Misconduct if Crime Pays?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 205-222, August.
    20. Brenda Nguyen & Mary Crossan, 2022. "Character-Infused Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 171-191, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:199:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-024-05827-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.