Intersections of ignorance and power : a sociological analysis of individual and structural white ignorance.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Park, Jerry Z. | |
| dc.creator | Lauve-Moon, Timothy A., 1982- | |
| dc.creator.orcid | 0000-0002-0653-0569 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-07-30T12:43:30Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-07-30T12:43:30Z | |
| dc.date.created | 2023-12 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-12 | |
| dc.date.submitted | December 2023 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2024-07-30T12:43:30Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | While conceived as the opposite of knowledge, ignorance too can be a treasured resource. At the intersection of power, white ignorance is enacted through white individuals and structured into their institutions to protect white supremacy and squelch liberatory movements aimed at social change. Recent research argues that white ignorance is a key mechanism in various racial formations including settler colonialism, slavery, anti-immigration othering, Jim Crow, and modern racism. Focusing on the present colorblind era, I develop three studies that broaden the scope of research on white ignorance. First, I contend ignorance is intersectional. Using a nationally representative sample, I find that Christian ignorance can be a form of white ignorance and vice versa among those with a white Christian standpoint. This intersectional ignorance lens significantly expands our understanding of ignorance. Second, I examine the interplay between individual and structured white ignorance. With the advent of Black Lives Matter (BLM), countermovements such as Blue Lives Matter emerge and utilize counterframing to impede the success of BLM. I contend this pro-police anti-BLM counterframe is a form of counterframed white ignorance that functions as a collective frame to avoid addressing ongoing racial injustice. Employing mediation analysis on a nationally representative sample, I find that colorblind racial resentment, political conservatism, and individual white ignorance about levels of violence in BLM protests explain how this counterframe persists among whites. Finally, I examine organizational processes that produce and reproduce white ignorance. Organizational research finds that the rules of an organization are frequently loosely coupled from their actions, and in US society, this loose coupling is often racialized. Using a representative sample of congregations within predominantly white denominations, I perform latent class analysis to examine the prevalence of loose and tight coupling between denominational statements encouraging congregational engagement to address racism and actual congregational actions. Results reveal that loose coupling is pervasive, and if a loosely coupled congregation engages in action, it is most likely low-cost forms of symbolic allyship. I argue that loose coupling and symbolic allyship can be an organizationally embedded white ignorance that functions to perpetuate racial inequality. Implications of each study are discussed. | |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
| dc.identifier.uri | ||
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2104/12867 | |
| dc.language.iso | English | |
| dc.rights.accessrights | No access – contact librarywebmaster@baylor.edu | |
| dc.title | Intersections of ignorance and power : a sociological analysis of individual and structural white ignorance. | |
| dc.type | Thesis | |
| dc.type.material | text | |
| local.embargo.lift | 2025-12-01 | |
| local.embargo.terms | 2025-12-01 | |
| thesis.degree.department | Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology. | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Baylor University | |
| thesis.degree.name | Ph.D. | |
| thesis.degree.program | Sociology | |
| thesis.degree.school | Baylor University |
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