Trading on Diverse Relationships: The Process of Racialized Social Commodification in Multiracial Congregations

Abstract

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 strategies of leaders of multiracial churches to raise funds for their organizations. Our systematic analysis reveals how these, mostly White, religious leaders act as brokers by leveraging embeddedness with congregants of color, social and cultural capital within institutions valuing diversity, and the racial status of their organizations to gain access to social and organizational benefits. We develop a theoretical concept called “racialized social commodification” (RSC) to explore how leaders convert the racial capital of people of color into social and economic resources in contexts of substantive diversity. Through RSC, even organizations boasting strong, cross-racial relationships continue to reproduce racial inequality by protecting power and resource hierarchies that benefit White Americans.