This article revisits the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois on the white church. Drawing on a synthetic reading of his scholarship on white Christianity, I argue that Du Bois conceives of the white church as a racialized organization that has been indelibly shaped by white supremacy. I then elaborate six mechanisms identified by Du Bois through which white churches further perpetuate white supremacy: legitimation, revisionism, inaction, segregation, missionary work, and charitable giving. Building on this analysis, I sketch a Du Boisian agenda for research on the white church and show how it can enrich scholarship in the sociology of religion, critical scholarship on race, and the Du Boisian renaissance more broadly.
{"title":"The Funk of White Souls: Toward a Du Boisian Theory of the White Church","authors":"Damon Mayrl","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srac009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srac009","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article revisits the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois on the white church. Drawing on a synthetic reading of his scholarship on white Christianity, I argue that Du Bois conceives of the white church as a racialized organization that has been indelibly shaped by white supremacy. I then elaborate six mechanisms identified by Du Bois through which white churches further perpetuate white supremacy: legitimation, revisionism, inaction, segregation, missionary work, and charitable giving. Building on this analysis, I sketch a Du Boisian agenda for research on the white church and show how it can enrich scholarship in the sociology of religion, critical scholarship on race, and the Du Boisian renaissance more broadly.","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47813147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Soundtrack to a Movement: African American Islam, Jazz, and Black Internationalism by RICHARD BRENT TURNER","authors":"Sylvia Chan-Malik","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srac013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srac013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47546386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism by JONATHAN TRAN","authors":"R. Lim","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srac014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srac014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41697996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley, by Carolyn Chen","authors":"J. Schmalzbauer","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srac010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srac010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48693867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Correction to: Paradoxes of Pluralism, Privilege, and Persecution: Explaining Christian Growth and Decline Worldwide","authors":"Nilay Saiya, Stuti Manchanda","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srac008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srac008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44826273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Other Black Church: Alternative Christian Movements and the Struggle for Black Freedom, by JOSEPH L. TUCKER EDMONDS","authors":"Eric L. McDaniel","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srac007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srac007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44497400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why Do People Discriminate Against Jews?, by JONATHAN FOX & LEV TOPOR","authors":"B. Kosmin","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srab061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srab061","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48812314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study examines how members of a majority second-generation Brazilian church in South Florida perceive their English-speaking, “American” congregation compared to the Portuguese-speaking Brazilian congregation from which they originated. Data for this research are drawn from in-depth, open-ended interviews with 32 members from different ethnoracial backgrounds, participant observation, and content analysis of the congregations’ social media. Findings show that the discourse of church differences portrays the two congregations in racialized and classist ways. Combining boundary-making and identity work theories, I argue that the perceptions espoused by members of the American congregation come from a place of pressure to assimilate to U.S. White middle-class culture, consequently reinforcing and legitimizing stereotypes in an effort to distance themselves from Brazilian immigrants.
{"title":"Negotiating Belonging: Race, Class, and Religion in the Brazilian Quest for “Becoming American”","authors":"Rodrigo Serrão","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srac002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srac002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study examines how members of a majority second-generation Brazilian church in South Florida perceive their English-speaking, “American” congregation compared to the Portuguese-speaking Brazilian congregation from which they originated. Data for this research are drawn from in-depth, open-ended interviews with 32 members from different ethnoracial backgrounds, participant observation, and content analysis of the congregations’ social media. Findings show that the discourse of church differences portrays the two congregations in racialized and classist ways. Combining boundary-making and identity work theories, I argue that the perceptions espoused by members of the American congregation come from a place of pressure to assimilate to U.S. White middle-class culture, consequently reinforcing and legitimizing stereotypes in an effort to distance themselves from Brazilian immigrants.","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46840914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Varieties of Atheism in Science, by ELAINE HOWARD ECKLUND","authors":"S. Noy","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srac003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srac003","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42371073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Religion and sexuality are polysemic categories. While conservative religion often fights against progressive sexual politics in contemporary America, this “usual story” is fractured and destabilized by people navigating the relationship between religion and sexuality as complex social creatures, not pundits or caricatures. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship, I examine salient issues of sexual politics—including abortion and reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and pornography—to show how religious actors have been on both sides of these debates. Because of this polysemic complexity, scholars of religion must not only tend to the dynamic interaction between religion and other categories, we must also recognize and study the diversity within the categories themselves.
{"title":"The False Dichotomy of Sex and Religion in America","authors":"Kelsy Burke","doi":"10.1093/socrel/srab062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srab062","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Religion and sexuality are polysemic categories. While conservative religion often fights against progressive sexual politics in contemporary America, this “usual story” is fractured and destabilized by people navigating the relationship between religion and sexuality as complex social creatures, not pundits or caricatures. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship, I examine salient issues of sexual politics—including abortion and reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and pornography—to show how religious actors have been on both sides of these debates. Because of this polysemic complexity, scholars of religion must not only tend to the dynamic interaction between religion and other categories, we must also recognize and study the diversity within the categories themselves.","PeriodicalId":47440,"journal":{"name":"Sociology of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47019069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}