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Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America

Research suggests that congregational characteristics are associated with the racial attitudes of American churchgoers. This study examines the relationship between congregational size and beliefs about the Black/White socioeconomic gap among religious adherents. METHOD: Drawing upon data from the G...

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Autores principales: Cobb, Ryon J., Dougherty, Kevin D., Park, Jerry Z., Perry, Samuel L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4944850/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27429797
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel6030781
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author Cobb, Ryon J.
Dougherty, Kevin D.
Park, Jerry Z.
Perry, Samuel L.
author_facet Cobb, Ryon J.
Dougherty, Kevin D.
Park, Jerry Z.
Perry, Samuel L.
author_sort Cobb, Ryon J.
collection PubMed
description Research suggests that congregational characteristics are associated with the racial attitudes of American churchgoers. This study examines the relationship between congregational size and beliefs about the Black/White socioeconomic gap among religious adherents. METHOD: Drawing upon data from the General Social Survey and the National Congregations Study, we fit binary logistic regression models to estimate the association between congregational size and Americans’ explanations of Black/White economic inequality. RESULTS: Findings reveal that attendees of larger congregations are less likely than attendees of smaller congregations to explain racial inequality as the result of the racial discrimination. The likelihood of explaining racial inequality in terms of personal motivation does not vary by congregation size. CONCLUSION: Despite the growing diversity in larger congregations in America, such congregations may steer attendees’ views about racial inequality away from systemic/structural factors, which may attenuate the ability of such congregations to bridge racial divisions.
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spelling pubmed-49448502016-07-14 Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America Cobb, Ryon J. Dougherty, Kevin D. Park, Jerry Z. Perry, Samuel L. Religions (Basel) Article Research suggests that congregational characteristics are associated with the racial attitudes of American churchgoers. This study examines the relationship between congregational size and beliefs about the Black/White socioeconomic gap among religious adherents. METHOD: Drawing upon data from the General Social Survey and the National Congregations Study, we fit binary logistic regression models to estimate the association between congregational size and Americans’ explanations of Black/White economic inequality. RESULTS: Findings reveal that attendees of larger congregations are less likely than attendees of smaller congregations to explain racial inequality as the result of the racial discrimination. The likelihood of explaining racial inequality in terms of personal motivation does not vary by congregation size. CONCLUSION: Despite the growing diversity in larger congregations in America, such congregations may steer attendees’ views about racial inequality away from systemic/structural factors, which may attenuate the ability of such congregations to bridge racial divisions. 2015-06-25 2015-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4944850/ /pubmed/27429797 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel6030781 Text en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Cobb, Ryon J.
Dougherty, Kevin D.
Park, Jerry Z.
Perry, Samuel L.
Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America
title Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America
title_full Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America
title_fullStr Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America
title_full_unstemmed Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America
title_short Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America
title_sort congregational size and attitudes towards racial inequality among church attendees in america
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4944850/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27429797
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel6030781
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