Contain and complain: ambivalence and challenge of anti-racism in German bureaucratic practice

Many of Germany’s institutional practices and routines—which help to shape and perpetuate notions of social cohesion—have long been criticized as exclusive and discriminatory during the decades of struggles against racism. This article by Grauert and Gukelberger explores the state’s response to such longstanding civil society criticism amid the rise of right-wing populism, focusing on the formulation and implementation of diversity and anti-discrimination strategies. The authors examine how bureaucratic practice creates—or limits—spaces within institutions in which allegations of racism can be formally raised, recognized and addressed. Drawing on ethnographic research and a social-theoretical perspective combining diversity and critical race studies with organizational sociology, Grauert and Gukelberger analyse how anti-discrimination and diversity bodies navigate the tension between making racism ‘complainable’ and pursuing social cohesion. Accordingly, they examine the affective processing of racism complaints within the complaints procedures of German city administrations and public order offices. Their article aims to deepen understanding of the advancement of diversity agendas alongside the frequent sidelining of racism in institutional practice, as well as the situational ambivalence that emerges when addressing racism in bureaucratic contexts.