TY - JOUR
T1 - The religious affiliations of american elites, 1930s to 1990s
T2 - A note on the pace of disestablishment
AU - Pyle, Ralph E.
AU - Koch, Jerome R.
N1 - Funding Information:
Address all correspondence to Ralph E. Pyle, Department of Sociology, 316 Berkey Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1111. This research was supported in part by Grant #93-0022 from the Louisville Institute. The authors appreciate the efforts of Tom Casteel and David Reyes, who coded some of the data.
PY - 2001/5
Y1 - 2001/5
N2 - This paper tests the “disestablishment thesis’ that America’s Protestant Establishment has declined over the course of the century, especially in the last 30 years. Using Who’s Who data from 1930, 1950, 1970, and 1992, we examine the religious affiliations of American elites, and the extent to which religious groups are over- or under-represented among elites relative to their numbers in the total U.S. population. Results support claims that the Protestant Establishment has lost prominence over the years. The data also indicate that there are more Catholics, Jews, and Lutherans among elites. However, other Protestant groups (e.g., Baptists) and Catholics remain under-represented in Who’s Who. Establishment groups and other elite religions (Unitarian-Universalists and Quakers) remain over-represented. Jews have gained relative to their numbers in the total population and are over-represented. We use a neo-Weberian framework to interpret the findings.
AB - This paper tests the “disestablishment thesis’ that America’s Protestant Establishment has declined over the course of the century, especially in the last 30 years. Using Who’s Who data from 1930, 1950, 1970, and 1992, we examine the religious affiliations of American elites, and the extent to which religious groups are over- or under-represented among elites relative to their numbers in the total U.S. population. Results support claims that the Protestant Establishment has lost prominence over the years. The data also indicate that there are more Catholics, Jews, and Lutherans among elites. However, other Protestant groups (e.g., Baptists) and Catholics remain under-represented in Who’s Who. Establishment groups and other elite religions (Unitarian-Universalists and Quakers) remain over-represented. Jews have gained relative to their numbers in the total population and are over-represented. We use a neo-Weberian framework to interpret the findings.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85007843909&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00380237.2001.10571187
DO - 10.1080/00380237.2001.10571187
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85007843909
SN - 0038-0237
VL - 34
SP - 125
EP - 137
JO - Sociological Focus
JF - Sociological Focus
IS - 2
ER -