Jane JonesDissertation Summary: “Giving Black? Race, Class, and Elite Philanthropy” This dissertation looks at how affluent blacks fit into the philanthropic field. Through indepth interviews with fundraisers and wealthy black donors, as well as textual analysis of documents about racial diversity in philanthropy, I examine how individuals in the philanthropic field understand the relationship between giving and racial identity. The dissertation focuses especially on questions of when race makes a difference in philanthropy from the point of view of givers, recipients, and fundraising professionals. Conversely, it also examines when issues of class trump race, how the very wealthy fit into a larger ecology of support for distinctively black institutions, and issues of how people new to wealth are socialized into the world of elite giving and its norms. The data indicate that black donors occupy a tenuous position in the philanthropic field. Donors and fundraisers understand the relationship between racial identity and giving in contradictory ways. While black donors attempt to integrate the field of philanthropy through their support of prestigious nonprofit organizations, fundraisers express ambivalence about the role of black donors that is both cultural and organizational. Fundraisers rely on cultural stereotypes about the nature of black donors, arguing that they are reticent to support organizations that are not explicitly black. Additionally, they abide by a set of organizational routines that make cultivating new donors difficult, and this problem is exacerbated in the case of black donors. Black donors, on the other hand, act in a manner that contradicts the assumptions of the fundraisers. Many tend to shun organizations with black identities, instead choosing to support causes they believe will benefit blacks indirectly through support of high status nonprofit organizations who may have black constituents. I argue that this type of strategic giving is a form of symbolic consumption by which affluent blacks work to increase their status through association with elite nonprofit organizations and utilize their economic privilege in order to control how and when race matters in their philanthropic giving. While even blacks of great affluence are not completely immune from the perils of race, the power to define the meaning of race distinguishes affluent blacks from their middle class black counterparts, whose tenuous racial privilege is well documented. At a time when discussions of post racial politics are gaining increased attention, this dissertation examines how wealthy African Americans attempt to reconcile their own sense of status inconsistency as economically affluent members of an oppressed racial group. Rather than examining if race matters, which is the common pursuit of race/class debates, this project argues that class status has important implications for how race matters for African Americans. Giving Black has important implications for cultural, economic, and organizational sociology as well as for broader issues surrounding race relations in the United States. Curriculum Vitae |
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