Social differentiation and individual belief: Affluent Christians' beliefs about inequality
Abstract
The goal of this thesis is to demonstrate that group-interests and the values of various segments of society's institutions function to influence individuals' beliefs, in particular, affluent Christians' beliefs about inequality. A Weberian perspective is developed to identify key structural sources of individuals' beliefs about inequality. The perspective posits that society is differentiated along two dimensions: (1) a vertical dimension of resource-inequality across interest-groups (i.e. social classes; gender segments), and, (2) a horizontal dimension of value-hetereogeneity within the normative contexts of society's institutions (i.e., fields of education; political party identifications; economic sectors; religious congregations). Interest-groups and normative contexts are thought to be significant sources of individuals' beliefs about inequality. Dominant interest-groups and status-quo-supportive normative contexts are expected to promote inegalitarian beliefs and deter egalitarian beliefs. Subordinate interest-groups and status-quo-questioning normative contexts are hypothesized to promote egalitarian beliefs and minimize inegalitarian beliefs. The hypotheses are tested using data generated from a sample survey of affluent members of 31 affluent congregations in Indiana. As expected, members of the Capitalist Class, men, and Republicans are found to hold stronger individualistic explanations of inequality than members of the New Class and Support Class, women, Democrats, and political Independents. Also as anticipated, women, Democrats, Independents, and individuals educated in ideocratic fields tend to hold stronger structural explanations of inequality than men, Republicans, and individuals educated in plutocratic fields. Overall, the thesis suggests that the vertical inequality of society and its horizontal normative hetereogeneity function to shape beliefs about inequality. Interest-groups tend to have the most influence on inegalitarian beliefs, while normative contexts tend to have more influence on egalitarian beliefs.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Sociology
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