O F Okuwobi
Biographic Data
| ID | 65560 |
|---|---|
| NAME | O F Okuwobi |
| GIVEN NAMES | O F |
| FAMILY NAME | Okuwobi |
| SIGNATURE | OKUWOBI O F |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Ohio State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0888-9401 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 59 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
House Negro or Field Negro
Relational inequalities theory relies on categorical differences in status to explain why the claims of people of color may be discouraged or denied. However, this mechanism may be insufficient to explain intraracial inequalities in claims-making. In this study, we draw from 17 semistructured interviews with pastors of color in the United Methodist Church to examine how racial salience affects the success of claims to leadership positions, congre…
Diversity as Philanthropy
Examinations of diversity ideology have focused primarily on white people and institutions. As a result, there remains an open question as to the systems of meaning people of color may hold when it comes to diversity. In this article, I analyze 60 semi-structured interviews with employees of color across three organization types: churches, universities, and corporations. I find that employees of color hold a distinct diversity ideology marked by …
How Do Nominal Characteristics Lose Status Value? Asymmetry in Status Deconstruction
Existing theories explain how the states of nominal characteristics acquire status value and the implications of status characteristics for the distribution of rewards, honor, and esteem in groups. It is less clear how characteristics lose status value. In this article, we combine the logic of status construction theory with loss aversion from decision theory to develop novel predictions about status loss. We predict that removing the mechanism o…
Trading on Diverse Relationships
Diverse organizations focus on appearing progressive but, in practice, may reproduce internal and external racial inequalities. Previous research has focused on how organizations with superficial levels of diversity may be detrimental to racial equity; are organizations with deep and sustained, cross-racial relationships any better? Drawing on in-depth interviews, field notes, and surveys of 121 head clergy of multiracial churches, we examine the…
Double Consciousness and Racial Status Beliefs
Double consciousness arises from a conflict between the negative appraisals of others and one’s own positive self-appraisal. In this study, we link double consciousness with racialized status beliefs, or beliefs about the competency and worth of group members. Using first-order and generalized second-order evaluations of explicit status beliefs, we examine the consistency between how individuals view their own racial group and how they perceive t…
The Limits of Congregational Support for Working Women
Recent scholarship has illuminated the ways that women clergy are disadvantaged in their work, even in congregations that actively support women ministers. How might this disadvantage extend to women congregants who work for pay in other fields? Drawing on 136 interviews from a national study on work and faith, we analyze the accounts of clergy within different types of Christian churches as well as those of women congregants. Surprisingly, we fi…
Diversity Displays and Organizational Messaging
Diversity has simultaneously become a pervasive goal and euphemism for racial differences in higher education. Although discourses within the postsecondary context highlight the positive impact of diversity on learning outcomes, organizational diversity efforts nevertheless warrant interrogation, given their possible obfuscation if not reification of, racial inequality and hierarchy. How do Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)—col…
Measuring Racial Status Beliefs with Implicit Associations
Status distinctions have important consequences for most aspects of life, including inequalities in wealth, segregation, and interaction patterns in small groups. Much work documents such inequalities, but the mechanisms producing them are less understood. In our 2019 ASR article, "Status Characteristics, Implicit Bias, and the Production of Racial Inequality," we showed that a novel measure of implicit status beliefs explained some of the effect…
Status Characteristics, Implicit Bias, and the Production of Racial Inequality
Racial stratification is well documented in many spheres of social life. Much stratification research assumes that implicit or explicit bias on the part of institutional gatekeepers produces disparate racial outcomes. Research on status-based expectations provides a good starting point for theoretically understanding racial inequalities. In this context it is understood that race results in differential expectations for performance, producing dis…
Everything that I've Done Has Always Been Multiethnic
Biographical work is the process of shaping a cohesive life story by selectively giving meaning to past events. The resulting biographies are not simple recitations of life events but narratives that illuminate what is valued in a person's social context and how the person makes sense of life events and experiences over time. Drawing on 121 interviews from the Religious Leadership and Diversity Project (RLDP), this article investigates biographic…
Status Characteristics, Implicit Bias, and the Production of Racial Inequality
Racial stratification is well documented in many spheres of social life. Much stratification research assumes that implicit or explicit bias on the part of institutional gatekeepers produces disparate racial outcomes. Research on status-based expectations provides a good starting point for theoretically understanding racial inequalities. In this context it is understood that race results in differential expectations for performance, producing dis…
Everything that I've Done Has Always Been Multiethnic
Biographical work is the process of shaping a cohesive life story by selectively giving meaning to past events. The resulting biographies are not simple recitations of life events but narratives that illuminate what is valued in a person's social context and how the person makes sense of life events and experiences over time. Drawing on 121 interviews from the Religious Leadership and Diversity Project (RLDP), this article investigates biographic…
Measuring Racial Status Beliefs with Implicit Associations
Status distinctions have important consequences for most aspects of life, including inequalities in wealth, segregation, and interaction patterns in small groups. Much work documents such inequalities, but the mechanisms producing them are less understood. In our 2019 ASR article, "Status Characteristics, Implicit Bias, and the Production of Racial Inequality," we showed that a novel measure of implicit status beliefs explained some of the effect…
House Negro or Field Negro
Relational inequalities theory relies on categorical differences in status to explain why the claims of people of color may be discouraged or denied. However, this mechanism may be insufficient to explain intraracial inequalities in claims-making. In this study, we draw from 17 semistructured interviews with pastors of color in the United Methodist Church to examine how racial salience affects the success of claims to leadership positions, congre…
Diversity as Philanthropy
Examinations of diversity ideology have focused primarily on white people and institutions. As a result, there remains an open question as to the systems of meaning people of color may hold when it comes to diversity. In this article, I analyze 60 semi-structured interviews with employees of color across three organization types: churches, universities, and corporations. I find that employees of color hold a distinct diversity ideology marked by …
Double Consciousness and Racial Status Beliefs
Double consciousness arises from a conflict between the negative appraisals of others and one’s own positive self-appraisal. In this study, we link double consciousness with racialized status beliefs, or beliefs about the competency and worth of group members. Using first-order and generalized second-order evaluations of explicit status beliefs, we examine the consistency between how individuals view their own racial group and how they perceive t…
The Limits of Congregational Support for Working Women
Recent scholarship has illuminated the ways that women clergy are disadvantaged in their work, even in congregations that actively support women ministers. How might this disadvantage extend to women congregants who work for pay in other fields? Drawing on 136 interviews from a national study on work and faith, we analyze the accounts of clergy within different types of Christian churches as well as those of women congregants. Surprisingly, we fi…
Status Characteristics, Implicit Bias, and the Production of Racial Inequality
Racial stratification is well documented in many spheres of social life. Much stratification research assumes that implicit or explicit bias on the part of institutional gatekeepers produces disparate racial outcomes. Research on status-based expectations provides a good starting point for theoretically understanding racial inequalities. In this context it is understood that race results in differential expectations for performance, producing dis…
Everything that I've Done Has Always Been Multiethnic
Biographical work is the process of shaping a cohesive life story by selectively giving meaning to past events. The resulting biographies are not simple recitations of life events but narratives that illuminate what is valued in a person's social context and how the person makes sense of life events and experiences over time. Drawing on 121 interviews from the Religious Leadership and Diversity Project (RLDP), this article investigates biographic…
Measuring Racial Status Beliefs with Implicit Associations
Status distinctions have important consequences for most aspects of life, including inequalities in wealth, segregation, and interaction patterns in small groups. Much work documents such inequalities, but the mechanisms producing them are less understood. In our 2019 ASR article, "Status Characteristics, Implicit Bias, and the Production of Racial Inequality," we showed that a novel measure of implicit status beliefs explained some of the effect…
Diversity Displays and Organizational Messaging
Diversity has simultaneously become a pervasive goal and euphemism for racial differences in higher education. Although discourses within the postsecondary context highlight the positive impact of diversity on learning outcomes, organizational diversity efforts nevertheless warrant interrogation, given their possible obfuscation if not reification of, racial inequality and hierarchy. How do Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)—col…
Double Consciousness and Racial Status Beliefs
Double consciousness arises from a conflict between the negative appraisals of others and one’s own positive self-appraisal. In this study, we link double consciousness with racialized status beliefs, or beliefs about the competency and worth of group members. Using first-order and generalized second-order evaluations of explicit status beliefs, we examine the consistency between how individuals view their own racial group and how they perceive t…
The Limits of Congregational Support for Working Women
Recent scholarship has illuminated the ways that women clergy are disadvantaged in their work, even in congregations that actively support women ministers. How might this disadvantage extend to women congregants who work for pay in other fields? Drawing on 136 interviews from a national study on work and faith, we analyze the accounts of clergy within different types of Christian churches as well as those of women congregants. Surprisingly, we fi…
How Do Nominal Characteristics Lose Status Value? Asymmetry in Status Deconstruction
Existing theories explain how the states of nominal characteristics acquire status value and the implications of status characteristics for the distribution of rewards, honor, and esteem in groups. It is less clear how characteristics lose status value. In this article, we combine the logic of status construction theory with loss aversion from decision theory to develop novel predictions about status loss. We predict that removing the mechanism o…
Trading on Diverse Relationships
Diverse organizations focus on appearing progressive but, in practice, may reproduce internal and external racial inequalities. Previous research has focused on how organizations with superficial levels of diversity may be detrimental to racial equity; are organizations with deep and sustained, cross-racial relationships any better? Drawing on in-depth interviews, field notes, and surveys of 121 head clergy of multiracial churches, we examine the…
House Negro or Field Negro
Relational inequalities theory relies on categorical differences in status to explain why the claims of people of color may be discouraged or denied. However, this mechanism may be insufficient to explain intraracial inequalities in claims-making. In this study, we draw from 17 semistructured interviews with pastors of color in the United Methodist Church to examine how racial salience affects the success of claims to leadership positions, congre…
Diversity as Philanthropy
Examinations of diversity ideology have focused primarily on white people and institutions. As a result, there remains an open question as to the systems of meaning people of color may hold when it comes to diversity. In this article, I analyze 60 semi-structured interviews with employees of color across three organization types: churches, universities, and corporations. I find that employees of color hold a distinct diversity ideology marked by …
Sociology (10 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Racism (4 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (4 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (4 works)