Seeing is achieving: religion, embodiment, and explanations of racial inequality in STEM

ABSTRACT

Ample research demonstrates how religious commitments influence beliefs about racial inequality within US society without considering how individuals’ explanations of inequality might differ with relationship to different racialized structures and institutions. Here we focus on science, an institutional sector perceived to be in tension with religious institutions and marked by persistent disparities in racial representation. Drawing on focus groups with fourteen pastors from twelve different churches, as well as interviews with twenty congregants, we find that Black and Latinx Christians in our sample draw on both individualistic and structural explanations of STEM inequality. Individualistic attributions, however, were primarily seen as products of structural constraints. Discursively, respondents saw STEM inequality resulting from not “seeing” aspects of science that would promote engagement. These results complicate prior work on religious understandings of racial inequality while also providing guidance for interventions designed to promote racial equality in STEM fields in particular.

KEYWORDS:

• Racial inequality
• stratification beliefs
• religion
• STEM
• Embodiment
• education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 While recognizing the conflict and ongoing debates around the term (Gonzalez-Sobrino 2019), we use “Latinx” throughout the manuscript as a gender-inclusive term referring broadly to individuals of Latin American descent.

2 LUP06, Female, Human Resources Professional, Conducted 5 February 2016

3 AAB01, Female, Manager of Operations, Conducted 15 December 2015

4 AAB04, Male, Engineer, Conducted 29 January 2016

5 AAB03, Female, Accountant, Conducted 22 January 2016

6 LUP01, Female, Real Estate Agent, Conducted 11 December 2015

7 LUP07, Female, Health Care Worker, Conducted 17 February 2016

8 AfAm12, Female, Pastor, Conducted 4 September 2015

9 AAB10. Female, Accountant, Conducted 4 May 2016

10 AfAm13, Female, Pastor, Conducted 4 September 2015

11 LUP09, Male, Welder, Conducted 13 April 2016

12 LUP04, Male, Benefits Coordinator, Conducted 26 January 2016

13 AAB10, Female, Accountant, Conducted 4 May 2016

14 AAB09, Female, Nurse, Conducted 18 March 2016

15 AAB05, Female, Teacher, Conducted 31 January 2016

16 AfAm14, Male, Pastor, Conducted 4 September 2015

17 LUP02, Male, Real Estate Agent, Conducted 11 December 2015

18 AfAm14, Male, Pastor, Conducted 4 September 2015

19 LUP06, Female, Human Resources Professional, Conducted 5 February 2016

20 AAB08, Female, Human Resources Professional, Conducted 16 March 2016

21 LUP01, Female, Real Estate Agent, Conducted 11 December 2015

22 AAB01, Female, Manager of Operations, Conducted 15 December 2015

23 AAB08, Female, Human Resources Professional, Conducted 16 March 2016

24 AAB01, Female, Manager of Operations, Conducted 15 December 2015

25 AAB04, Male, Engineer, Conducted 29 January 2016

26 AAB08, Female, Human Resources Professional, Conducted 16 March 2016

Additional information

Funding

Research was funded by the Faculty Initiatives Fund at Rice University, “Religion, Science and Inequality”, Elaine Howard Ecklund PI.