Managed Diversity: Race, Place, and an Urban Church.

This study examines the organizational practices and experiences of congregational diversity in an evangelical urban church. Based on data collected using ethnographic methods over an 18-month period, this study suggests a principal organizational practice (managed diversity) employed by white church leaders produces complex and consequential outcomes for the racial experiences of congregation members. Specifically, the management of diversity results in three techniques integral to organizational outcomes that reveal the mechanisms by which race is conceptualized and manipulated to navigate new religious markets. This study contributes to ongoing scholarship about the conceptual apparatus that voluntary organizations engage to foster racial diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]