“Part of God’s Plan for My Life”: How Conservative Protestant Students Make Sense of Social Forces and Social Inequality

Abstract Research shows that White conservative Protestants’ individualistic views impede their pursuit of structural solutions to social injustice. When introduced to a structural perspective through a sociology course, what religio-cultural tools do conservative Protestant students use to interpret the impact of social factors on their lives? Through an analysis of student reflections, I found that the primary way they made sense of social factors was through a lens of divine control, and this did not vary by social location. A secondary way was viewing them as unfair, a view that was more common among advantaged students than disadvantaged students.