Apoorva Ghosh | University of Louisiana at Lafayette (original) (raw)

Papers by Apoorva Ghosh

Sociology Compass, 2024

This study investigates the role of transnational sexualities—referring to how sexual identities ... more This study investigates the role of transnational sexualities—referring to how sexual identities and relationships are influenced by cross-border movements and contexts—in shaping LGBTQ+ single living arrangements. By analyzing interdisciplinary literature, personal narratives, and empirical research, it examines how cultural, legal, and social dynamics influence singlehood across borders. Key factors include the impact of legal and socio-cultural disparities, migration-related instability, discrimination, and the pursuit of privacy and autonomy. The study also highlights the roles of financial independence and digital networks in facilitating single living. By exploring the connections between transnational sexualities, identity, and singlehood, this research provides fresh insights into LGBTQ+ living arrangements within a globally mobile and culturally diverse context.

UC Irvine Doctoral Dissertation, 2020

This dissertation examines the process of parental acceptance for gay men in India and the US. In... more This dissertation examines the process of parental acceptance for gay men in India and the US. In academic literature and public discourse, this acceptance is often seen as a linear, albeit often gradual, process. However, interviews with gay men conducted for this study show that this acceptance waxes and wanes in patterned ways. It is found that gay men often experience *contextual* parental acceptance. Acceptance becomes weaker or stronger at different points and stages in the life course and in different interactional settings. Parental acceptance becomes stronger or diminished in these contexts depending on how gay men’s parents respond to the forces of heteronormativity and homonormativity, and whether American gay men align with the racial normativity while experiencing their sexuality, in these time and spatial contexts. Finally, this study incorporates the experiences of gay men from India to show that the understanding of parental acceptance through the lenses of homonormativity is more exclusive to the US. Parental acceptance in India can be better understood through how queerness, in addition to homonormativity, shapes gay men’s perceptions of parental acceptance.

Socio-Economic Review, 2021

This study shows that when social movements achieve a general acceptance for the legitimacy of th... more This study shows that when social movements achieve a general acceptance for the legitimacy of their cause in the institutional environment, they may start pursuing further demands by challenging their target entities through the "politics of alignment," meaning engaging these entities in professionally developed programs and demanding specific outcomes by introducing timed interventions in them. This study exemplifies this politics using the case of American LGBT workplace movement which used its Corporate Equality Index (CEI) program to extend reputational and economic benefits to its target entities—the Fortune 500 corporations—but also added an intervention to this program in 2011 to demand the adoption of gender transition-related health benefits by these corporations as a specific movement outcome which, if not met, would make these corporations lose the benefits they had been deriving through their performance in the CEI program. A longitudinal study of 456 Fortune 500 corporations from 2008 to 2017 conducted through hazard rate analysis indicates that corporations affected by this intervention, as well as by other movement factors, were the most likely to adopt these health benefits for their employees. Further quantitative analysis—using QCA—shows that early adoptions were explained largely by the LGBT workplace movement forces and the later adoptions by insider activism and isomorphic diffusion. These findings highlight that an incisive understanding of organizational change can be best gathered by examining social movements and institutional forces together.

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sexuality Studies, 2020

This article examines the LGBT Workplace Equality Movement at a global and cross-national level. ... more This article examines the LGBT Workplace Equality Movement at a global and cross-national level. This movement is a niche sphere of activism within the larger LGBT social movement which focuses on fighting for the equality and inclusion of LGBT employees in the workplace. A global review suggests that no one model for this sphere of activism can be replicated in all parts of the world. Cross-nationally, multiple models of the LGBT workplace equality movement exist on the basis of each location’s unique goals, intersectionality, and movement participation. Globally, this movement has pursued location-specific goals using strategies tailored to each situation. The global character of this movement can be retained by continuing to address the range of unique challenges and issues faced by LGBT employees across the world.

Sociology Compass, 2020

This study examines extant scholarly knowledge on parental acceptance of young lesbian and gay pe... more This study examines extant scholarly knowledge on parental acceptance of young lesbian and gay people in traditional heteronormative families. Recent literature shows that parents generally accept their lesbian and gay children. However, parents do not always accept them immediately after they come out. Acceptance takes time, and transitioning to acceptance is often a complex process that depends on parents’ access to the necessary resources for coping with the stresses of knowing that their child identifies as lesbian or gay. These resources include counseling or therapy, supportive friends and extended family, and a network of other parents with lesbian and gay children. This study also highlights the need for further research on parental acceptance in non-traditional families and of children with other non-heterosexual identities, such as asexuality, gray ace, bisexuality, or pansexuality. It also calls for an exploration of the complexities of parental acceptance as an ongoing process rather than as a singular event.

Sexualities, 2020

Through in-depth interviews, this study aimed to show how lesbians and gay men in India may const... more Through in-depth interviews, this study aimed to show how lesbians and gay men in India may construct their sexuality as a result of being globally connected through accessing "transnational pathways," such as the global mass media, diasporic experiences, and transnational workplaces. This study indicates that these pathways aid in the interaction between externally derived sexual schemas and pre-existing sexual schemas, which may in turn lead to a configuration of "differential congruence" whereby competing sexual schemas may coexist rather than fuse or replace each other in an individual's life, albeit in different spheres.

Disclosure decisions for lesbian and gay employees have been researched in organizational context... more Disclosure decisions for lesbian and gay employees have been researched in organizational contexts. While the dilemmas associated, factors affecting, and situations encouraging or discouraging disclosure have been studied, the relatively unexplored area is how homosexuality can be strategically deployed at workplace to contest the associated stigma and bring positive social and political changes in the organizational climate. While scholars believe that remaining closeted may be the best strategy in a heterosexist and homophobic environment, studies report psychological strain, lack of authenticity, behavioral dilemmas, etc. experienced by closeted individuals, which, at minimum, lead to conflicts in daily situations of identity management and, at the peak, suicidal attempts due to perceived burdensomeness and failed belongingness. To address this dilemma in leveraging sexual orientation diversity in workplaces, this chapter deals with the framework of identity deployment offered by Bernstein (1997) to explore how homosexuality can be deployed in the workplace.

Gender, Work & Organization, Jan 2015

This study contests the distinction of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) orga... more This study contests the distinction of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) organizations suggested by earlier studies as ‘respectable’ — i.e. normalizing, professionalizing and conforming to the dominant cultural and institutional patterns — and ‘queer’, meaning challenging the cultural and institutional forces that ‘normalize and commodify differences’. Using Bernstein’s model of identity deployment, it is found problematic to distinguish LGBTQ organizations this way because when the actions of LGBTQ organizations are more complex to describe, it is not warranted to conflate identity goals with identity strategies — whether normalizing (respectable) or differentiating (queer). To examine these concerns, a qualitative inquiry was used to study five LGBTQ organizations in India where the intersections of post-colonial ethnicity, gender, social class and sexuality offer an intriguing context through which to study queer activism. Based on the findings, it is argued from a post-colonial perspective that when the socio-cultural and historical existence of non-homonormative queer communities and practices is strong, LGBTQ organizations challenge the homonormative and/or other forms of domination to become 'queer'. But they may simultaneously become 'respectable' by conforming to the diversity politics of non-profit business, donors, and social movement organizations they seek support from, and turn out as 'respectably queer'.

South Asian Journal of Management, Vol 21, issue 3

With focus on cultural identities like ethnicity, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation e... more With focus on cultural identities like ethnicity, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation etc., this study views cultural competence from the lenses of intergroup theory and workplace diversity. This paper has two highlights. First, the major focus is on using qualitative inquiry to offer a framework for culturally competent behaviors of organization and its personnel. This framework offers themes and categories on what behaviors of individuals and organization help them in dealing with cross-cultural situations effectively at workplace. Second, the findings also suggest how culturally competent behaviors of members and leaders of the organization groups affect the intergroup relations (group boundaries, power differences, affective patterns, cognitive formations including ‘distortions’) that involve identity groups and organization groups. Directions for future research are also discussed.

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate how interpersonal cultural encounters i... more The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate how interpersonal cultural encounters in daily lives make individuals culturally competent at workplace. Using in-depth interviews of Indian working executives, I conducted an inquiry to arrive at my findings. The findings suggest that cultural encounters in work as well as non-work settings influence cultural competence at workplace. Especially, the role of family-based encounters was found to be significant. Contribution of this study towards the scholarship on cross-cultural management and future scope for research are discussed.

This article attempts to inquire what industrial relations (IR) is and analyzes the ways in which... more This article attempts to inquire what industrial relations (IR) is and analyzes the ways in which it has been defined and interpreted since its inception. Various scholars ranging from system theorists, pluralists, Marxists and neo- Marxists to the modern HR and strategic choice perspectives have added, modified or questioned its subject matter. An attempt has been made to propose a model for IR so that it can involve all the addressed as well as unaddressed issues. This model is then tested with what have been the scholarly opinions of how IR should change and respond to the contemporary realities. The article concludes by proposing empirical testing of this model in the service economy of post-industrial age when we have knowledge workers instead of blue-collar workers, flat team-based structures instead of hierarchy and participative control rather than bureaucracy. The possibility of IR, given its experience and time-tested understanding of managing workers of huge strength, to borrow the concepts from contemporary disciplines like HRM and behavioural sciences and develop new theories and frameworks that can add meaning to the new realities is also explored.

Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 47(1), Jul 1, 2011

Power distance has been constructed mostly as a concepthighly negative for organizational progres... more Power distance has been constructed mostly as a concepthighly negative for organizational progress, participation and empowerment of employees and overall organizational health. This construct is also highly correlated with collectivism. This paper examines the compatibility of organizations with high power distance cultural set ups. An attempt is made here to inquire in to whether low power distance can be realized in collectivist cultures or we should look for aspects which can make this high power distance functional and desirable in case of those countries with high collectivism and power distance.