Abstract
Re-conceptualizing habitus as a complex of inculcated moral dispositions that—particularly within the racialized social system of the United States—are racially-constituted, this article proposes a framework through which racial conflict and structural/cultural domination within interracial religious organizations, and perhaps other volunteer organizations, may be analyzed. Drawing upon qualitative data from a study of fundraising experiences within interracial evangelical organizations, I demonstrate, first, that racial conflicts within these organizations are best framed as disputes over moral standards arising out of divergent, racially-constituted, moral dispositions, and second, that these conflicts are worked out via the institutionalization and instilment of white cultural norms, ultimately resulting in the hegemony of white moral standards within the organizations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Aristotle argued that moral standards become embodied within individuals as a disposition or hexis developed through habitual “virtuous” practice (according to Aristotle’s standards of virtue). This habituated moral disposition in turn serves to influence actors to will and act “virtuously.”
Although the majority of respondents in this study worked for domestic collegiate ministries, the term “collegiate ministry” is too narrow as a significant minority of respondents worked overseas and/or with adults or children.
By describing habitus as “racially-constituted” I mean that they were produced by the structural and cultural conditions associated with an actor’s location within the racialized social system of the United States.
Although this definition could aptly describe a racial habitus more generally, Bonilla-Silva limits his application of a racial habitus concept to whites. Brekhus et al. (2010) point out that the white habitus concept coincides with Bonilla-Silva’s (2003) color-blind racism framework, which emphasizes the tacit and pre-reflexive nature of whites’ racialized dispositions over and against the more salient racial identities of racial minorities.
Although the responses of multiracial respondents (N = 13) were analyzed in comparison with other racial groups, their responses are not discussed in the analysis as the heterogeneity of their racial combinations, identities, and networks makes their responses problematic to interpret.
References
Athens, Lonnie. 2009. The roots of “radical interactionism”. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior 39(4): 387–414.
Becker, Penny Edgell. 1999. Congregations in conflict: Cultural models of local religious life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Blumer, Herbert. 1986. Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Berkeley: California University Press.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. 2003. Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo, and David G. Embrick. 2007. “Every place has a ghetto”: The significance of whites social and residential segregation. Symbolic Interaction 30(3): 323–345.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo, Carla Goar, and David G. Embrick. 2006. When whites flock together: A social psychology of white habitus. Critical Sociology 32: 229–253.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1990. The logic of practice. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bourgois, Philippe, and Jeff Schonberg. 2007. Intimate apartheid: Ethnic dimensions of habitus among homeless heroin injectors. Ethnography 8(1): 7–31.
Brekhus, Wayne H., David L. Brunsma, Todd Platts, and Priya Dua. 2010. On the contributions of cognitive sociology to the sociological study of race. Sociology Compass 4(1): 61–76.
Brubaker, Rogers, Mara Loveman, and Peter Stamatov. 2004. Ethnicity as cognition. Theory and Society 33: 31–64.
Chen, Carolyn. 2006. From filial piety to religious piety: Evangelical Christianity reconstructing Taiwanese immigrant families in the United States. International Migration Review 40(3): 573–602.
Edwards, Korie L. 2008. The elusive dream: The power of race in interracial churches. New York: Oxford University Press.
Edwards, Korie L. 2009. Race, religion, and worship: Are contemporary African-American worship practices distinct? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 48(1): 30–52.
Emerson, Michael O. 2006. People of the dream: Multiracial congregations in the United States. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Emerson, Michael O., and Christian Smith. 2000. Divided by faith: Evangelical religion and the problem of race in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Goffman, Erving. 1963. The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City: Anchor Doubleday.
Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the Prison notebooks. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Horvat, Erin M., and Anthony L. Antonio. 1999. “Hey, those shoes are out of uniform”: African American girls in an elite high school and the importance of habitus. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 30(3): 317–342.
Ignatow, Gabriel. 2009. Why the sociology of morality needs Bourdieu’s habitus. Sociological Inquiry 79(1): 98–114.
Ignatow, Gabriel. 2010. Culture and embodied cognition: Moral discourses in internet support groups for overeaters. Social Forces 88(2): 643–670.
Lamont, Michele. 1992. Money, morals, & manners: The culture of the American and French upper-middle class. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
MacLeod, Jay. 2009. Ain’t no makin’ it: Aspirations and attainment in a low-income neighborhood, 3rd ed. Boulder: Westview.
Maines, David R. 1977. Social organization and social structure in symbolic interactionist thought. Annual Review of Sociology 3: 235–259.
Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. 1848/2002. The communist manifesto. Penguin Edition. London: Penguin Books.
McGlathery, Marla F., and Traci Griffin. 2007. “Becoming conservative, becoming White?”: Black evangelicals and the parachurch movement. In This side of heaven: Race, ethnicity, and Christian faith, ed. Robert Priest and Alvaro Nieves, 145–161. New York: Oxford.
Musolf, Gill R. 1992. Structure, institutions, power, and ideology: New directions within symbolic interactionism. The Sociological Quarterly 33(2): 171–189.
Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. 1994. Racial formation in the United States, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Sallaz, Jeffrey J. 2010. Talking race, marketing culture: The racial habitus in and out of apartheid. Social Problems 57(2): 294–314.
Sayer, Andrew. 2005. The moral significance of class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I am extremely grateful to the EOM workers who took the time to participate in this study. Thanks also go to George Yancey, Barnaby Riedel, Gabriel Ignatow, David Smilde, Rebecca Hanson, and the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful recommendations at various stages of this project. Lastly, thanks go to Jill Perry for her patience and support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Perry, S.L. Racial Habitus, Moral Conflict, and White Moral Hegemony Within Interracial Evangelical Organizations. Qual Sociol 35, 89–108 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-011-9215-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-011-9215-z