Alignment and Contradiction in Social Justice Non-Profit Work

Abstract

This thesis investigates social justice non-profit employees' experiences of alignment and contradiction in their work. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 20 people who work for non-profits with a social justice mission, I show that employees' experiences of their work - whether they feel it is good or bad - depend in part on whether they experience alignment between their social justice values, their treatment at work, and the content of their work. Employees tend to expect alignment, and a lack of alignment or contradictions between an organization's values and practices can pose significant problems for employees, leading some to question whether good social justice non-profit work is even possible. A social justice mission sets up expectations about work content and working conditions, and the disappointment of these expectations constitutes a problem in and of itself, beyond the substantive issues to do with working conditions or work content employees encounter.