Bourdieu Goes to Church: An Analysis of Racial Inclusion and Social Class Exclusion in a Multiracial Organization

Abstract

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.