The Large in the Small: How Mundane Actions Perpetuate Social Inequality

This study explores the role of organizational routines in addressing grand challenges, particularly social inequalities. While scholars have proposed various strategies and theoretical frameworks, many initiatives fail to achieve the desired outcomes. One reason for this is that strategies often focus on immediate, visible concerns while overlooking deeper, less obvious issues. Our paper emphasizes the importance of identifying relevant routines, even those that may seem distant or unrelated at first to unpack how social inequality is perpetuated. The study empirically analyzes the NYT podcast Nice White Parents, which investigates racial inequality in the public school system in New York. We show how routines related to power, marginalization, and cultural imperialism perpetuate racial inequalities. In particular, the analysis reveals how white parents’ actions reinforced existing racial divides under the guise of “integration.” The study’s findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of organizational actors in grand challenges by highlighting the significance of mundane actions as we capture temporal and spatial dynamics of social change.