Equal Opportunity Beliefs beyond Black and White American Christianity

Jerry Z Park,James C Davidson,Joyce C Chang

doi:10.3390/rel11070348

Jerry Z Park, James C Davidson + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11070348

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Abstract

Scholars in critical race and the sociology of religion have independently drawn attention to the ways in which cultural ideologies drive beliefs about inequalities between groups. Critical race work on “abstract liberalism” highlights non-racially inflected language that tacitly reinforces White socioeconomic outcomes resulting from an allegedly fair social system. Sociologists of religion have noted that White Evangelical Christian theology promotes an individualist mindset that places blame for racial inequalities on the perceived failings of Blacks. Using data from the National Asian American Survey 2016, we return to this question and ask whether beliefs about the importance of equal opportunity reveal similarities or differences between religious Asian American and Latino Christians and Black and White Christians. The results confirm that White Christians are generally the least supportive of American society providing equal opportunity for all. At the other end, Black Christians were the most supportive. However, with the inclusion of Asian American Christian groups, we note that second generation Asian American and Latino Evangelicals hew closer to the White Christian mean, while most other Asian and Latino Christian groups adhere more closely to the Black Christian mean. This study provides further support for the recent claims of religion’s complex relationship with other stratifying identities. It suggests that cultural assimilation among second generation non-Black Evangelical Christians heads more toward the colorblind racist attitudes of many White Christians, whereas potential for new coalitions of Latino and Black Christians could emerge, given their shared perceptions of the persistent inequality in their communities.

Highlights

Inasmuch as the racial disparities in employment, wealth and housing continue and are worsened by some measures, attitudes about equal opportunity undergird much of the resistance toward policies aimed at ameliorating these inequalities
Our study suggests that the general racial hierarchy or revised racial order applies to attitudes toward equal opportunity among American Christians
This suggests that structural racial domination has counterparts within cultural ideologies; White supremacy generally goes unquestioned through the internalization of abstract liberalism, for White Christians, regardless of specific tradition

Summary

Introduction

Inasmuch as the racial disparities in employment, wealth and housing continue and are worsened by some measures, attitudes about equal opportunity undergird much of the resistance toward policies aimed at ameliorating these inequalities. Pertinent to the collection of studies in this volume is the evident role that cultural scripts play through religious affiliations, as they relate to racial disparities and the very ideals intended to project an exceptionalist or colorblind view of American society. As Wilde and her colleagues have shown and argued, research findings on religious differences always intersect with social characteristics in which our society is typically stratified, namely race, class, and gender (Wilde 2018; Wilde and Glassman 2016). In many cases, it is the responses of White Americans that drive the narratives of “religious effects”. We apply the racial hierarchy framework to the research on religious affiliation’s relationship to inequality attitudes using a unique sample of Americans that allow

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