From college to career: how students’ perceptions of DEI and agency evolve

As federal and state legislation actively dismantles diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in higher education, communication educators face growing pressure to understand how students make meaning of DEI across different social contexts and throughout their lifetimes. In this longitudinal study, I examine how students’ perceptions toward DEI evolve as they transition from the habitus of college into the habitus of the workforce. Grounded in Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and Fairhurst and Putnam’s organizations as discursive constructions framework, I explore how students’ discourse about DEI is shaped and constrained by the Discourse of each new organizational context they enter. I interviewed six former students of a semester-long organizational communication practicum three years after graduating. Findings reveal that students shifted from a top-down orientation toward DEI while in college to a more dialectical understanding of how agency and structure mutually constitute DEI in the workplace. Students also reported feeling ill-equipped to activate their agency when organizational culture opposed their DEI values. I conclude with pedagogical implications for organizational communication educators.