Race,Religiosity, and the Women's Vote

Abstract

Much of our popular political discourse focuses on the Democratic character of the women's vote, but there is, in fact, considerable diversity among female voters. Important sectors of the female electorate have political concerns that are at odds with the Democratic Party, though they hold these preferences less strongly than do men. This article focuses on these differences between women and links them to electoral behavior in the 1996 presidential election. I argue that women, like men, cast their vote with the party that best represents their interests, as they understand them. African American women overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party in 1996, which is consistent with theories of racial group interests, but white women diverge politically.

The main finding of this research is that religious values play a central role in white women's voting behavior, even after taking into account ideological and partisan predispositions. We see this result, I argue, because religious and secular women correctly identify the Republican Party as the repository of social conservatism and the Democratic Party as embracing social liberalism.     

Is your church “liked” on Facebook? Social media use of Christian congregations in the United States

Despite the increasing interests in social media platforms among religious congregations, little is known about the patterns of these organizations' social media use. This study examines religious congregations' adoption of Facebook, using the data from the 2012 National Congregations Study. The results show that Christian congregations' involvement in nonreligious activities, both social service and political activities, predicts their Facebook adoption. Congregations' membership size and staff resources are also positively associated with their Facebook use. Other organizational characteristics, including religious tradition, clergyperson's age, and urban location, also explain congregations' Facebook use. Overall, the findings suggest that Christian congregations' adoption of social media platforms is closely related with their community outreach and social marketing activities as well as their resources. This study concludes with suggestions for narrowing the gap in social media use between resource‐rich and resource‐restricted congregations, as well as between urban and rural congregations.     

Spiritual Shopping: The Effects of State-Level Demographics and Religious Economies on the Locations of Psychics,Astrologers, and Christian Bookstores

In this article we utilize state-level data to investigate the factors affecting the location of Christian bookstores, astrologers, and psychics. We distinguish between factors related to general consumption of goods and factors related to religious economies to see if religious products are merely another consumption good whose popularity has no relation to the religious environment or if the consumption of these products is related to competition in the religious marketplace. Our results indicate that, whereas the location of astrologers and psychics is strongly related to general consumption related demographic factors, the location of Christian bookstores does not seem to be affected by these factors. Christian bookstores instead reflect the religious composition of state markets. Further, the presence of conservative Protestants appears to have a dampening effect on the location of psychics and astrology studios.     

Fundamentalist Religious Affiliation and Support for Civil Liberties: A Critical Reexamination

The perceived connection between theological and political conservatism has motivated many scholars to test its implications using quantitative data analysis. However, those studies have yielded quite contradictory findings. One reason lies in the way the religious orientation variable is typically operationalized. Researchers often select respondents for the analysis based on their denominational affiliation, further restricting the group based on religious beliefs or participation. In contrast, this study will utilize the 2000 General Social Survey (GSS) data and logistic regression analysis to assess if fundamentalist religious affiliation independently of other religious or demographic characteristics correlates with low support for civil liberties. The findings suggest that fundamentalist religious affiliation itself does not show a statistically significant effect in most cases. Instead, the demographic composition of religious groups and belief in the literal truth of the Bible are largely responsible for the variation in attitudes of their adherents.     

Occupational and Religious Mobility in a Small City

Previous studies have suggested a relationship between occupational and religious mobility, namely, that the later should follow upon the former in order to provide the mobile individual with a more socially congruent context. The greater the distance of occupational mobility, therefore, the more likely is religious mobility to occur. Analysis of data from a telephone survey of a small Midwestern city reveals that occupational and religious mobility are not related per se; there is, however, a significant relationship between occupational mobility distance and religious mobility. Education is also significantly and positively related to occupational mobility. Highly educated individuals who are occupationally mobile across a great distance are the most religiously mobile group of all. There is also a tendency for the religiously mobile to move into high status Protestant denominations or out of the Christian religion altogeher; this pattern is intensified among those who are highly mobile occupationally. The results suggest that religious mobility is a coping mechanism rather than a search for a more socially congruent context.     

Communication in Religious Lobbying: Making Meaning,Creating Power

This article examines influence-building tactics used in the political discourses of religious groups born from social movements. It applies Hofrenning's (1995) 3 strategies (symbolic, language, and coalition building) to an organizational publication. The work traces the Christian Coalition stances on issues of separation of church and state between 1992 and 1996 by content analyzing Christian American, the group's official publication. This study concludes that this organization of religious conservatives used varying issue emphases, contexts, and alliances to mobilize followers. It gravitated toward a political rather than religious agenda and moved toward a more secularly delivered message over time. This article also indicates that groups rooted in social movements may be able to take places within the political superstructure relatively quickly and that Hofrenning's list is useful for tracking these transitions.     

Environmental Politics: the Structuring of Partisan and Ideological Cleavages in Mass Environmental Attitudes*

This paper explores the impacts of political party identification and political ideology on two dimensions of mass environmental beliefs—awareness of environmental problems and support for environmental reform. We argue that while the environmental movement's mobilization of public awareness of environmental problems was essentially non-partisan, more recent movement efforts to achieve environmental reforms have taken a discernible “reform liberal” stance of advocating state regulation of the private sector. Neither political party identification nor political ideology has a substantial effect on awareness of environmental problems. Anti-laissez-faire political liberalism proves to be highly correlated with support for environmental reform, particularly among the middle class. Despite the major impact of political liberalism on support for environmental reform, there are no partisan differences in such support. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the notion that political-ideological differences in support for environmental reform exist despite political parties.     

Ethnic nominalism and civic religiosity: Christianity and national identity in Britain

The relationship between religion and national identity is a contested topic in public debates about cultural diversity and immigration. In sample surveys only a minority the British population identify themselves as belonging to a Christian religion, and far fewer practise their faith. Nevertheless, nearly a quarter of the population think it is important to be Christian to be truly British. This study explores the complex relationships between religious and national identities in Britain, using data from the 2008 British Social Attitudes Survey. Three different forms of national identity were identified through factor analysis: civic‐symbolic, cultural‐aesthetic and ethnic national identity. Ethnic national identity is the only dimension of national identity that is positively associated with thinking it is important to be Christian to be British. While churchgoing Christians are more likely to feel national in response to secular cultural symbols, they are less likely to associate religion with nationality than those with a nominal Christian affiliation. The results indicate that Christianity has cultural significance for national identity primarily as a proxy for ethnic identity.     

DO MORAL COMMUNITIES PLAY A ROLE IN CRIMINAL SENTENCING? Evidence from Pennsylvania

Religion and social control have been a sociological concern since Durkheim and Weber, and the relationship between religion and punishment has long been the subject of speculation. However, surprisingly little empirical research exists on the role of religion or religious context in criminal justice, and almost no research on the role of religious context on actual sentencing practices. We conceptualize the potential relationships between religious context and sentencing severity by drawing from the focal concerns and court community perspectives in the sentencing literature and from the moral communities theory developed by Rodney Stark. We suspect that Christian moral communities might shape notions of perceived blameworthiness for court community actors. Such moral communities might also affect notions of community protection—affecting perceptions of dangerousness, or perhaps rehabilitation, and might influence practical constraints/consequences (e.g., local political ramifications of harsh or lenient sentences). We examine these questions with a set of hierarchical models using sentencing data from Pennsylvania county courts and data on the religious composition of Pennsylvania counties from the Associated Religion Data Archives. We find that county Christian religious homogeneity increases the likelihood of incarceration. In addition, Christian homogeneity, as well as the prevalence of civically engaged denominations in a county condition the effects of important legally relevant determinants of incarceration. Furthermore, we find evidence that Christian homogeneity activates the effect of local Republican electoral dominance on incarceration. We argue that Christian homogeneity affects sentencing practices primarily through local political processes that shape the election of judges and prosecutors.     

Preference for realistic art predicts support for Brexit

Following the UK’s EU referendum in June 2016, there has been considerable interest from scholars in understanding the characteristics that differentiate Leave supporters from Remain supporters. Since Leave supporters score higher on conscientiousness but lower on neuroticism and openness, and given their general proclivity toward conservatism, we hypothesized that preference for realistic art would predict support for Brexit. Data on a large nationally representative sample of the British population were obtained, and preference for realistic art was measured using a four‐item binary choice test. Controlling for a range of personal characteristics, we found that respondents who preferred all four realistic paintings were 15–20 percentage points more likely to support Leave than those who preferred zero or one realistic paintings. This effect was comparable to the difference in support between those with a degree and those with no education, and was robust to controlling for the respondent’s party identity.     

American Evangelicals and Conservative Politics: Past,Present, and Future

Since the late 1970s, American evangelicals have been a potent influence in conservative politics. Recent scholarship both refines and contextualizes some of the central themes found in the broader literature on evangelical politics. We first review key recent scholarship in American religious history. It shows that current patterns of evangelical conservatism are the product of historically contingent social forces and that political conservatism was never uniform among evangelicals. We then discuss recent scholarship on evangelicals' attitudes toward public issues. This work indicates that commitment to moral traditionalism on social issues is the dominant force animating evangelical political conservatism and that evangelicals remain distinctly Republican in their partisan voting despite economic and foreign policy commitments that are not as strongly aligned with Republican priorities. We then shift our focus to the dominant conservative movement of the moment: the Tea Party. We cite evidence that evangelicals and the Tea Party remain distinct in terms of constituents and issue priorities but that social concerns may be taking precedence over the economic concerns that birthed the movement. We conclude by discussing recent trends that suggest that a de‐alignment between evangelicalism and conservative politics may be underway.     

DYNAMIC INDICATORS OF SELF-PERCEIVED CONSERVATISM

This study looks at the relationship between standard indicators of conservatism and self-labeling behavior. Many of the variables believed to be indicative of conservatism and liberalism are not the variables people use when labeling themselves conservative or liberal. It is proposed that many of the standard social and political variables tend to be period- and age-specific in terms of their relationship to self-labeling behavior. The variables are period-specific because at any point in time there are a number of issues that are particularly salient and divisive, and therefore tend to affect self-labeling behavior. The variables are age-specific because social networks greatly influence sociopolitical attitudes and affiliations and the makeup of social networks tend to vary over the course of one's life. To test for the period- and age-specific nature of selflabeling behavior the General Social Survey is used. Results suggest that some standard indicators of conservatism are strongly correlated with self-perceived conservatism but only for the youngest age group. Results also show that moral issues such as premarital sex, abortion, pornography and marijuana use are particularly strong correlates of self-labeling behavior for these respondents.     

Psychological Needs and Values Underlying Left-Right Political Orientation: Cross-National Evidence from Eastern and Western Europe

According to previous research conducted mainly in the UnitedStates, psychological needs pertaining to the management ofuncertainty and threat predict right-wing conservatism, operationallydefined in terms of resistance to change and acceptance of inequality.In this study, we analyze data from 19 countries included inthe European Social Survey (ESS) to assess two sets of hypotheses:(1) that traditionalism (an aspect of resistance to change)and acceptance of inequality would be positively associatedwith right (versus left) orientation, and (2) that rule-following(an aspect of the need for order), high need for security, andlow need for openness to experience would be associated withright (versus left) orientation, adjusting for quadratic effectsassociated with ideological extremity. In addition, we determinethe extent to which the pattern of relations among needs, values,and political orientation was similar in Eastern and WesternEuropean contexts. Results from regression and structural equationmodels indicate that traditionalism and, to a lesser extent,rule-following predict right-wing conservatism in both regions,whereas acceptance of inequality predicts right-wing orientationin the West only. Although openness to experience was associatedwith preferences for greater equality in both regions, it wasassociated with left-wing orientation in Western Europe andright-wing orientation in Eastern Europe. Needs for security,conversely, were associated with right-wing orientation in WesternEurope and left-wing orientation in Eastern Europe. Thus, wefind evidence of both universal and context-specific effectsin our analysis of the cognitive and motivational antecedentsof left-right political orientation.     

Is a “Christian America” a More Patriarchal America? Religion,Politics, and Traditionalist Gender Ideology

Recent research shows that Americans who adhere to Christian nationalism—an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life—tend to hold authoritarian and exclusionary attitudes, particularly regarding ethno‐racial minorities and nontraditional family forms. Such findings suggest a fundamental connection between Christian nationalism and rigid symbolic boundaries, which would likely extend to Americans’ understanding of gender roles. Drawing on notions connecting religious nationalism with defenses of patriarchal norms and utilizing a recent national, random sample of American adults, the current study examines the link between contemporary Christian nationalism and traditionalist gender ideologies. Our analyses reveal that Christian nationalism is the strongest predictor of holding a more traditionalist gender ideology, even after taking into account a host of political and religious characteristics. Moreover, the relationship between Christian nationalism and gender traditionalism holds across religious traditions, including more gender‐egalitarian groups like Mainline Protestants and even the unaffiliated. We conclude by highlighting the implications of these findings for understanding contemporary populist support for Donald Trump, which previous studies have shown is undergirded by both Christian nationalism and sexism.     

基于智能网络的党外青年知识分子政治引领策略

从政治认同感、政治信任感、政治效能感、社会主义核心价值观、宗教信仰等方面对党外青年知识分子的政治思想和网络政治引领状况进行的调查发现,党外青年知识分子思想观念和价值倾向呈现鲜明的实用性,引领对象组织复杂致其政治思想意识呈现较大的不平衡性,教育背景不同致其政治理念呈现多元化和差异化,网络政治公共服务和产品供给不足,协同教化机制缺乏。新时代应明晰党委领导责任机制,构建新媒体、融媒体等多维媒体矩阵平台,发挥技术优势,建章立制,发挥其政治引领功能。     

Conservatism, institutionalism, and the social control of intergroup conflict

This research investigates the state social control of intergroup conflict by assessing the sociopolitical determinants of hate crime prosecutions. Consistent with insights from the political sociology of punishment, group-threat accounts of intergroup relations and the state, and neoinstitutional theory, the findings suggest that hate crime prosecutions are fewer where political conservatism, Christian fundamentalism, and black population size are higher, although this last effect is nonlinear. Linkages between district attorneys' offices and communities, on the other hand, increase hate crime prosecutions and the likelihood of offices' creating hate crime policies. Yet these policies are sometimes decoupled from actual enforcement, and such decoupling is more likely in politically conservative districts. The results indicate that common correlates of criminal punishment have very different effects on types of state social control that are protective of minority groups, and also suggest conditions under which policy and practice become decoupled in organizational settings.     

HISPANIC MEDIA USE AND PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION:

This study utilizes data from the Latino National Political Survey to evaluate the relationship between several social and cultural variables, media use, and Hispanic perceptions of discrimination. We examine the effects that level of income and education, personal experience, ethnicity, and political party preference and media exposure have on these perceptions. The examination builds on social-psychological theories and media framing/cultivation arguments. The cross-section, regression analysis considers Hispanics as a whole and as various subgroups (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans), respectively. Contrary to conventional wisdom that media use is positively related to perceived discrimination, we find that socioeconomic and ethnic conditions are of greater import for understanding perceptions. Further, it appears that media use has little impact on perceptions of discrimination.     

The Ahmao (Miao) schism: the problem of spiritual agency in encounters between church and state in southwest China

The majority of Ahmao in southwest China have been Christian since a mass conversion movement took place in the 1900s. Throughout the century, Ahmao congregations have gone through several reforms and survived many political campaigns. After two decades of prosperity through China’s reform era, since the 2000s many Ahmao congregations in northern Yunnan have experienced schisms. This paper sets out to investigate a schism that took place in a medium-size Ahmao congregation between 2005 and 2015. Based upon several years of continuous fieldwork, I found that the alleged schism in this Ahmao congregation – rather than describing a long-standing fracture in the community – appears intermittently and should be considered as an effect of religious regulation that problematizes the agency of spiritual practice. Under the regime of religious regulation in contemporary China, Ahmao congregations have been delicately negotiating between different modes of agency as changes in Christian practice become necessary or inevitable.     

Religious effects on environmentalism

Understanding of religious influences on environmentalism has been biased by political conflicts. This article summarizes the demographic parameters of environmental concern, then evaluates religious and political influences on that concern and related activity, using General Social Surveys data. It assesses influences on willingness to pay for environmental programs, individual environmental behaviors, and participation in political activities for related causes. Young people and women express greater environmental concern, but older persons more often engage in individual environmental activities such as recycling. The association of fundamentalism with political conservatism compounds interpretation of religion because political conservatives are antagonistic to environmentalism. Religious affiliation strength has positive effects on environmental concern, and worship attendance has positive effects on individual environmental behaviors, when fundamentalism and political variables are controlled. This article is part of the third stage of literature on religion and environmentalism in which positive as well as negative patterns are recognized.     

Religious Involvement and Political Behavior: a Log-linear Analysis of White Americans, 1952-1968*

The political distinctiveness of major American religious groupings is well-documented, but the role of church attendance in maintaining these cleavages has been unclear. Analysis of white respondents in five national surveys covering 16 years reveals that church attendance is significantly related to party identification and presidential vote in all but one instance. Application of Goodman's log-linear analysis of contingency tables shows that higher rates of church attendance are related to non-Democratic preferences among Protestants and Democratic preferences among Catholics. In several years, the relationship depends as well upon region of residence. The effects, particularly on the vote, seem to be changing systematically over time as the South becomes politically similar to the non-South.