Zanoni, PatriziaJanssens, MaddyBenschop, YvonneNkomo, Stella M., 1947-2011-08-022011-08-022010-01Zanoni, P, Janssens, M, Benschop, Y & Nkomo, S 2010, 'Unpacking diversity, grasping inequality : rethinking difference through critical perspectives', Organization, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 9-29.1350-5084 (print)1461-7323 (online)10.1177/1350508409350344http://hdl.handle.net/2263/16948Critical diversity studies emerged in the mid-1990s as a reaction to the re-appropriation of equal opportunities by business through the notion of diversity. They initially took issue with the dominant rhetoric of diversity as a positive, empowering approach valorizing employees’ different capacities (e.g. R. Thomas, 1992), arguing that the theoretical shift to diversity would obscure unequal power relations in organizations, e.g. gender, race/ ethnicity, (dis)ability, hampering the ability to challenge them (i.e. Bond and Pyle, 1998; Edelman et al., 2001; Jones et al., 2000; Kelly and Dobbin, 1998; Liff, 1996; Liff and Wajcman, 1996; Linnehand and Konrad, 1999; Lorbiecki and Jack, 2000; Maxwell et al., 2001; McDougall, 1996; Prasad and Mills, 1997; Wilson and Iles, 1999).en© The Author(s), 2010.Equal opportunity in employmentOrganizationsUnderstandings of diversityAffirmative action programsPersonnel managementDiversity in the workplaceMulticulturalismPreprint Article