Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“Church” In Black And White: The Organizational The Organizational Lives Of Young Adults, Rhys H. Williams, Courtney Ann Irby, R. Stephen Warner

Sociology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The religious lives of young adults have generally been investigated by examining what young people believe and their self-reported religious practices. Far less is known about young adults’ organizational involvement and its impact on religious identities and ideas about religious commitment. Using data from site visit observations of religious congregations and organizations, and individual and focus group interviews with college-age black and white Christians, we find differences in how black and white students talk about their religious involvement; and with how they are incorporated into the lives of their congregations. White students tended to offer “organizational biographies” chronicling the contours …