Much research on tokenism has focused on the organizational processes by which white women and racial minorities experience heightened surveillance at work and become occupationally immobile. Little research has considered how tokenism operates for other minority workers, such as immigrants. We theorize cultural tokenism to explain the ways in which foreign-born minorities in the United States are held up against hegemonic ethnic markers besides cultural gender standards and racial stereotypes, resulting in their interpersonal and institutional exoticization. Drawing on interviews with 33 immigrant women university faculty, this study shows how cultural contrasts make work difficult for high-status, foreign-born professional women. Specifically, they experience gendered pressures to provide U.S.-born students with “cultural enrichment” experiences and demonstrate organizational diversity while navigating the effects of tokenism. This research explains barriers to promotion and work satisfaction for immigrant women in white-collar jobs, and raises questions about how organizations can benefit from hiring these workers without exploiting them.

关于象征主义的许多研究都集中在组织过程上，白人妇女和少数族裔通过这些过程在工作中受到更高的监视，并在职业上变得行动不便。很少有研究考虑过象征主义对其他少数群体工人（例如移民）的作用。我们理论化文化象征主义解释除了文化性别标准和种族刻板印象之外，在美国出生的少数群体如何抵制霸权民族标志，从而导致他们的人际关系和制度异化。通过对33位移民女性大学教师的采访，这项研究表明，文化差异如何使地位高的，外国出生的职业女性难以工作。具体来说，他们承受着性别压力，以为美国出生的学生提供“文化丰富”体验，并展示组织的多样性，同时探索象征主义的影响。这项研究解释了白领工作中移民妇女晋升和工作满意度的障碍，并提出了有关组织如何在不剥削他们的情况下从雇用这些工人中受益的问题。