Moralized Identities in and Around Organizations: An Identity Work Perspective

In this article, we examine the literature on moralized identities – the range of identities that people construct for themselves that are underpinned by issues of morality. We problematize traditional theorizing by drawing on the identity work perspective to provide an explanatory framework that diverts attention away from a focus on what single, stable, unified, and rarely fully contextualized moralized identities do to theorize how multiple, fluid, context-specific, moralized identities embedded in relations of power develop. Our framework outlines a dynamic conceptualization of moralized identities which disrupts the assumption of moral coherence by theorizing moralized identities as plural, dynamic, relational, and networked. Building on our framework, we provide an agenda for future moralized identities research.