Bereni, Laure. 2025. Managing Corporate Virtue: The Politics of Workplace Diversity in New
York and Paris: Oxford University Press.
A major tenet of contemporary capitalism holds that what is good for
business can align with what is good for society. Efforts toward more
diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces epitomize this rising
ideology, termed responsible capitalism. An increasingly common
managerial mantra is “diversity means business.” But how does it play
out in the daily life of organizations? Drawing on interviews with
diversity managers, a historical review of practitioner literature, and
observations from organizations in New York City and Paris,
Managing Corporate Virtue goes beyond the rhetoric of diversity
initiatives to uncover the concrete challenges faced by those tasked
with implementing them. This book reveals the persistent fragility of
diversity efforts, which are often sidelined; subject to the variations of the legal, social, and
political environment; and require constant efforts to sustain managerial support. Practitioners
must prove their programs are neither merely virtue signaling nor the Trojan horse of political,
legal, or moral pressures that would unsettle the corporate order. Ultimately, by exploring the
day-to-day work of diversity managers in the United States and France, the book exposes the
contradictions lurking beneath the neoliberal promise of harmony between profit and virtue.
