Bourdieu Goes to Church

An Analysis of Racial Inclusion and Social Class Exclusion in a Multiracial Organization

Bibliographic Data

ID17826385
AuthorsIsaiah Jeong (0000-0002-5538-2259, University of Illinois Chicago, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-05-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Race and Ethnicity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2332-6492 • E-ISSN: 2332-6506
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/23326492261427781
OpenAlexW7160387881
LanguageEN
References cited46

While significant research has explored the progress and perils of multiracial organizations in their engagement with issues of race and racism, less research has analyzed class hierarchies in these settings. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, this article provides an ethnographic insight into how a multiracial church maintains social class boundaries in a racially inclusive space. Rather than examining habitus through a racial or social class lens alone, the article proposes a concept called diversity habitus that examines how organizations engage in class-based racialization. The theoretical framework shows how organizational practices of racial inclusion and social class exclusion are co-constructed through a case study of how diversity efforts create social closure for those who do not possess cultural capital

Class (philosophy) · Closure (psychology) · Diversity (politics) · Ethnography · Habitus · Inclusion (mineral) · Race (biology) · Social class · Management and Organizational Studies · Religion and Society Interactions · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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