Peter Belmi

Is power inherently bad? Why do social class disparities emerge in organizations, and how can those organizations mitigate inequality — do they change hearts and minds or internal structure? Darden Professors Ed Freeman and Peter Belmi discuss power, leadership and inequality on The Stakeholder Podcast.

Sexism and rudeness: not mutually exclusive. New research shows that rudeness can hide sexism, as observers may dismiss perpetrators as “equal-opportunity jerks.” Darden professors explain how the phenomenon not only turns bad behavior into plausible deniability, it can also serve as a barrier to addressing sexism in the workplace.

The months must-reads for managing in the digital age, curated by the Ideas to Action editors

Confident people are seen as competent people. And people of higher social class tend to have more confidence than others — yet perceptions of their abilities tend to exceed their actual performance. Darden Professor Peter Belmi studies cycles of inequality and here explains what the phenomenon means for businesses and what to do to stop it.

Professor Peter Belmi’s research examines the insidious structural and psychological factors that contribute to social and income inequality, often despite people’s best intentions.

Darden Professor Peter Belmi's recent work found that class-based inequality persists not only because of external factors like bias and “glass ceilings,” but also because of structural factors that discourage relatively low-class people from seeking positions of power in the first place.

How do people respond to social identity threats — circumstances under which people think they may be devalued simply because of their social identity (ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation) or membership in a particular group?