Hidden in plain sight: Working class and low-income atheists.

Abstract

The current study sought to qualitatively examine the role of social class in the development of atheist identity, the experience of atheism-related minority stress, and relationships between atheists. Using a critical phenomenological design, we captured the experiences of 15 working-class and the low-income U.S. American atheists and identified five themes: Early Doubts and Establishment of Atheist Values; Diverse Experiences of Antiatheist and Class-Based Stigma; Expecting Indifference, Exercising Caution; Strategies of Concealment and Disclosure; and Atheism as an Individual, Rather Than Collective, Experience. Results suggested working-class and low-income atheists engaged in strategic outness to manage risk and their atheist identities developed similarly to studies including primarily class-privileged atheists. However, working-class and low-income atheists diverged from extant atheism scholarship in their relatively low atheist identity centrality and limited engagement with and perceived connection to other atheists. We conclude with implications for our findings and directions for future research.

“Breaking Free”: A Grounded Theory Study of Atheist Women in the United States

“…Relatedly, in a prior study, atheism was not central or salient among low-income and working-class atheists; however, unlike women in the present study, low centrality and salience were attributed to the precedence of other roles and responsibilities (e.g., work and children) and/or appeared related to privileges (e.g., maleness, Whiteness; Abbott et al, 2021). By contrast, atheist identity was central, or important to women's sense of themselves, though not salient among participants in the present study.…”

“…This may speak to women's psychological strength in and the value they place upon relationality or connectedness (Miller, 1976). By contrast, low-income and working-class atheists, most of whom were men, reported disregard for others' perceptions of their atheism and described their atheism as an individual endeavor with little desire for connection (Abbott et al, 2021). Therefore, knowing a few other atheist women, experiencing sexism in atheist groups, and being misunderstood by Christians, the majority religious group in the U.S., may be particularly difficult for atheist women as compared to men given their proclivity for social connection.…”

“…In a study of social identity threat or awareness of the devaluation of atheists, stigma consciousness was associated with higher levels of concealment and a lower likelihood of public atheism, especially among atheists residing in the Southern U.S. (Mackey et al, 2021). Atheists, particularly those belonging to other marginalized communities (e.g., people of color and low-income atheists), engage in a process of strategic outness (see Orne, 2011) in which they exercise caution with regard to disclosure of their atheism and use concealment to protect relationships, avoid negative consequences in the workplace, and ensure emotional and physical safety (Abbott et al, 2020a;Abbott et al, 2021). Indeed, Frost et al (2022) found women were more likely to conceal their atheism as compared to men.…”

“…Thus, relations between aspects of CSIs seem to vary among atheists in the U.S. with different cultural positionalities (e.g., race and social class). For example, low-income and working-class atheists did not describe their atheism as salient and, therefore, were not distressed by anti-atheist stigma despite awareness of its pervasive nature (Abbott et al, 2021). Atheists of color often described the challenge of being an outsider within communities of color, due to their nonbelief, and within atheist communities, as they were not White (Abbott et al, 2020a).…”

Self-referencing affects perceptions of workplace discrimination against atheists.

“…Atheists face substantial bias and stigma (Abbott et al, 2021; Cragun et al, 2012; Gervais & Najle, 2018), yet empirical research examining the discrimination atheists face remains scarce, especially within legal contexts. This is despite evidence that the number of atheists and religiously unaffiliated individuals is increasing (Gallup, 2021; Gervais & Najle, 2018).…”