A new study explores why nominally welcoming churches remain racially segregated in the post-civil rights era. The reason may be due to clergy and congregants in white evangelical churches who execute what the authors term “race tests” on incoming people of color.
A new study explores why nominally welcoming churches remain racially segregated in the post-civil rights era. The reason may be due to clergy and congregants in white evangelical churches who execute what the authors term “race tests” on incoming people of color.
Race tests may be used to determine whether people of color are willing to serve the interests of whites in the church or to coerce people of color into leaving. After examining data gathered from seven majority white, evangelical churches across four states, the authors provide examples of both types of race tests.
“Whiteness, like other forms of domination, is characterized by masking power under a veil of normality. Therefore, in the colorblind era, whites are discouraged from the formal, overt bigotry that most people recognize as racism,” wrote the authors of the Sociological Inquiry study. “Instead, scholars must anticipate informal behaviors, such as race tests, that fit the interests of whiteness under the current racial paradigm.”
The study is part of a special issue on racial microaggressions.
Additional Information
Link to Study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soin.12174/full
About Journal
Sociological Inquiry (SI) is the journal of Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society. SI is committed to the exploration of the human condition in all of its social and cultural complexity. We are particularly interested in well-written papers that challenge us to look anew at traditional areas or identify novel areas for us to investigate. Both theoretical and empirical work is welcome, as are the varied research methods in the study of social and cultural life.
Penny Smith
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