Doing Boundary Work as an "Inclusive" Group: A Qualitative Study of a Liberal Congregation Public Deposited
- Last Modified
- March 19, 2019
- Creator
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Krull, Laura
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology
- Abstract
- In doing boundary work, members of a group solidify their own identity by comparing themselves against an ‘out-group’ representing who they are not, but what happens when a group claims an “inclusive” identity? Drawing on 26 in-depth interviews and a year of participant observation at a liberal, Protestant congregation, this paper explores how church members develop three strategies for boundary work that exclude religious conservatives (the out-group) without challenging the congregation’s claim to “inclusivity.” First, they refer to the out-group in vague terms to avoid explicitly naming who is excluded; second, they emphasize what works for them spiritually rather than criticizing other religious traditions; finally, they construct favorable comparisons between their church and others. Ultimately I show that this tension between boundary work and the claim to inclusivity leads to the reproduction of inequality, as church members value seeing ‘both sides’ over challenging racist, classist, and heterosexist beliefs and actions.
- Date of publication
- December 2015
- Keyword
- Subject
- DOI
- Identifier
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- Kleinman, Sherryl
- Tyson, Karolyn
- Pearce, Lisa D.
- Degree
- Master of Arts
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
- Graduation year
- 2015
- Language
- Publisher
- Place of publication
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Access
- There are no restrictions to this item.
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This work has no parents.
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