Forget me not: demarginalising trailblazing and leading Black women’s WEIRD industrial, organisational, and societal career experiences with “power” in the world’s top music industry ecosystems
Authors:   , Blackwell Brittany 
Published: March 2023

Governments in the UK and US passed a slew of acts and laws, from 1960s onward, to prohibit discriminatory practices aimed at marginalised groups, across business and society. Despite these landmark rulings, it is still the case that ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalised acts of dehumanisation continue to permeate WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized [sic], Rich, and Democratic) consciousness, perceived-to-be justifiable behaviours, as well as (dysfunctional) ways of relating within cultural paradigms, as (nonaccountability) being ascribed to “social norms”. By framing this groundbreaking IO psychological research project, within multiple wider social contexts, while also centring the implications of “human (business) practices” in the music industry, I sought to cross-culturally examine trailblazing and leading UK and US Black women’s industrial, organisational, and societal career experiences, in this “equality” era. Accordingly, I developed this project from the specific lenses of Black women navigating “power”, “identity politics”, the “politics of identity” and the implications of social constructs, in the, purported-to-be, egalitarian, top- performing music industry ecosystems of the world. In commissioning both intersectionality theory (IT) and, what I will name, an “intrasectional” conceptual framework – a hybrid critical realist ontology and Black feminist epistemology (BFE), where reflexivity would be valued, were ultimately chosen to guide the methodological choices. Also, as narrative research is critical to understanding “lived experiences”, (a criterion in BFE), this thesis leaned towards a Big Q qualitative model, incorporating a multimethod design, featuring two reflexive thematic analyses, using archival data, for Study 1 (n=9 industry trailblazers), to inform the approach for in- depth semi-structured interviews, for Study 2 (n=12 industry leaders). Based on the findings, the themes I generated from Study 1 and Study 2, strongly indicate that Black women’s systemic WEIRD MIE career experiences, are an alarming cause for concern, as the negative workplace issues they tend to encounter fit the criteria of a “humanitarian crisis”, by the UN’s standards, which deserves macro-contexts, urgent attention, and a call- to-action for stakeholder and organisational interventions, as Black women spoke to themes of workplace abuse and incivility, prolonged poor mental and physical health outcomes, other forms of multidimensional exploitation, as well as experiences with disconnection, and barriers at every level in their careers, in the relationship-driven music industry. As these outcomes adversely impacted the pace and progression, as well as trajectories, of their careers across the multisectoral and occupational spectrums in the MIEs, this thesis sought to explore how and why, adding an original contribution to knowledge in psychology through this niche exploration.