Holy Vote - Inequality and Anxiety Among White Evangelicals

"Sarah Diefendorf's work is fresh and interesting, with well-conceived ideas surrounding crucial sociological issues."—Gerardo Martí, author of American Blindspot: Race, Class, Religion, and the Trump Presidency

"Diefendorf is an outstanding ethnographer; the data in this study are illuminating and powerful. The Holy Vote details White evangelicals' efforts to construct and maintain a permanently neutral Christian identity as the world shifts beneath their feet, threatening to mark them as sexist, racist, homophobic, and even weird. Her concept of the imagined secular helps us to understand the experience of navigating the inherent tensions in trying to be just plain Christians."—Dawne Moon, author of God, Sex, and Politics: Homosexuality and Everyday Theologies

"In this lucid and perceptive ethnographic study, Diefendorf introduces readers to the inner workings of a White evangelical subculture where expressions of love and welcome provide members with a sense of belonging and benevolence while ultimately serving to bolster their own status and privilege. An essential read for anyone seeking to understand the logic and power of the White evangelical movement."—Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

List of contents

Contents

Acknowledgments 

1. Good and Godly in Trump’s America 
2. The Fear of Religious and Cultural Decline 
3. The Imagined Secular: Confronting Feminism, Gender, and Family Life 
4. White Evangelicals: Emotion Work and Racial Inequality 
5. Sacred Sex: Marriage and Heterosexuality 
6. We Aren’t the Extremists: Same-Sex Marriage and Changing Ideas of Sin 
7. Enduring Inequalities in Unsettled Times 

Appendix A: Navigating Prayer, Positionality, and Institutional Review 
Appendix B: Participant Overview 
Notes 
References 
Index

About the author

Sarah Diefendorf is a visiting scholar at Indiana University.

Product details

• Authors: Sarah Diefendorf
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 13.01.2023
• EAN: 9780520355606
• ISBN: 978-0-520-35560-6
• No. of pages: 242
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; RELIGION / Religion, Politics & State, RELIGION / Christian Ministry / Missions, RELIGION / Christian Ministry / Evangelism, RELIGION / Christianity / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Islamic Studies, Christian mission & evangelism, Christianity, Religion & politics, Religion and Politics, Religious mission and Religious Conversion, Religious groups: social & cultural aspects, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Religion, Politics & State, Conservatism & right-of-centre democratic ideologies, Liberalism & centre democratic ideologies, Centrist democratic ideologies, Right-of-centre democratic ideologies, Social groups: religious groups and communities