Images of race over time at British Airways : a case study

Abstract

This research project examines the ways in which race is presented through photographs taken from British Airways newsletters, located in the British Airways Archives, during the period of 1932-1946. The purpose of the study is to consider the predominant themes of those images, how the images change over time, and the various ways that discrimination seems to be reproduced and recreated at the organization through the images. The content analysis of how race is shown in the organization’s materials over the fourteen year time period provides a case for how images are reproduced and subtly altered over time to maintain a dominant stereotype of non-white individuals as a means of exclusion or discrimination within the organization. The content analysis reveals three main themes over time that act as categorizations for the way in which race is admitted into the organization in the materials studied. These three themes are primitivism, exoticism, and superiority, and together these different themes demonstrate a change over time in the way that race is shown in the organization. The significance of this study lies in the need for more considerations of racial discrimination within organizations, as evidence suggests that historical treatment of certain groups, such as those of non-white races, can impact the treatment that such groups receive today in organizations (Acker, 2006; Nkomo, 1992; Cox & Nkomo,1992). The study will contribute to the existing literature as a case study by attempting to show how discrimination was enacted during one time frame at the organization through images in the organizational newsletters, and how that discrimination changed over time. The study takes into consideration previous work on British Airways (Mills, 1995; Mills, 2006) and draws its time frame from Mills’(1995; 2006) identification of junctures (Mills, 2010) within the organization. The study also considers Nkomo’s (1992) theory of race-neutrality, which asserts that organizations often fail to sufficiently consider the impacts of race and racial discrimination, and calls for greater investigation into past experiences of minority workers.