The Role of Bridging Cultural Practices in Racially and Socioeconomically Diverse Civic Organizations

Abstract

Organizations can benefit from being internally diverse, but they may also face significant challenges arising from such diversity. Potential benefits include increased organizational innovation, legitimacy, and strategic capacity; challenges include threats to organizational stability, efficacy, and survival. In this article, we analyze the dynamics of internal diversity within a field of politically oriented civic organizations. We find that "bridging cultural practices" serve as a key mechanism through which racially and socioeconomically diverse organizations navigate challenges generated by internal differences. Drawing on data from extended ethnographic fieldwork within one local faith-based community organizing coalition, we describe how particular prayer practices are used to bridge differences within group settings marked by diversity. Furthermore, using data from a national study of all faith-based community organizing coalitions in the United States, we find that a coalition's prayer practices are associated with its objective level of racial and socioeconomic diversity and its subjective perception of challenges arising from such diversity. Our multi-method analysis supports the argument that diverse coalitions use bridging prayer practices to navigate organizational challenges arising from racial and socioeconomic diversity, and we argue that bridging cultural practices may play a similar role within other kinds of diverse organizations.

Social Movements and Bridge Building: Religious and Sexual Identity Conflicts

“…Prodded by insights on intersectionality (see recent reviews and developments by Cho, Crenshaw, & McCall, 2013;Chun, Lipsitz, & Shin, 2013;Verloo, 2013), social movement scholars have increasingly sought to understand how activists negotiate overlapping positional and cultural differences in the social world (e.g., Beamish & Luebbers, 2009;Braunstein, Fulton, & Wood, 2014;Brecher & Costello, 1990;Gamson, 1997;Ghaziani, 2011;Lichterman, 1995Lichterman, , 2005Longard, 2013;Mayer, 2009;Nakano, 2013;Reger, Myers, & Einwohner, 2008;Roth, 2003Roth, , 2008Smith, 2002;Snarr, 2009;Swarts, 2011;Wood, Fulton, & Partridge, 2012;Yukich, 2010). One way that social movement scholars have attempted to address this question is through attention to "bridging work" or "bridge building" in social movements, which is a "form of social movement interaction that focuses explicitly on efforts to overcome and negotiate conflicts that result from different collective identities," usually in a way that takes into account the concerns of all actors involved (Roth, 2003, p. 9; see also Beamish & Luebbers, 2009;Braunstein et al, 2014;Brecher & Costello, 1990;Ghaziani, 2011;Lichterman, 2005;Mayer, 2009;Roth, 2008;Smith, 2002;Snarr, 2009;Wood et al, 2012). Similarly, social movement scholars have begun to shed light on the role of "bridging organizations" in social movements, or organizations that seek "to educate different groups about each other, to reduce fear and hostility based on ignorance by bringing individuals together, and to encourage the valuing of cultural diversity" …”

Social Spirals through Everyday Group Life: Settings and Group Styles in a Comparative Perspective

“…The first part of the project identified three dimensions in which major changes in the studied associations occurred: forms of voluntary participation, repertoires of action, and relationships with local public institutions (Citroni, 2014). This is not an exhaustive list of the transformations affecting Milanese associations but they constitute three broad domains in which, according to the observed associations, the shifts that most affected their organizational stability, efficacy, and survival (Braunstein et al, 2014) were concentrated.…”

“…The newcomers significantly increased the association's internal diversity, thus constituting a potential source of benefits but also challenges for the stability of associative bonds (Braunstein et al, 2014). At the outset, the increased diversity appeared to be beneficial as the association's founding group was aging and newcomers offered the possibility of continuity over time.…”

Fostering Muslim Civic Engagement through Faith-Based Community Organizing

“…In fact, religiously diverse organizations are more likely to incorporate religious practices into their organizing activities, and the directors of diverse organizations reported feeling more comfortable doing so. Furthermore, socially diverse organizations often draw on religious practices to help bridge their members' racial and socioeconomic differences (Braunstein et al, 2014). Overall, rather than being venues for interfaith dialogue, FBCO organizations are vehicles for interfaith action.…”

“…Amid evidence that U.S. society is becoming increasingly fragmented (Fischer & Mattson, 2009), FBCO organizations bring people together across racial, class, and religious lines. Indeed, FBCO organizations are among the most racially and socioeconomically diverse organizations in the United States (Braunstein, Fulton, & Wood, 2014); FBCO FOSTERING MUSLIM CIVIC ENGAGEMENT 52 organizations are, on average, more racially diverse than congregations and public schools. More than 50% of all FBCO organizations' board members are people of color , whereas only 19% of all nonprofit board members in the United States and only 13% of Fortune 500 board members are people of color (Lang, Donald, Orta, & Hokoyama, 2011;Ostrower, 2007).…”