Christianity, Social Class, and the Catholic Bishops' Economic Policy
The recent American Catholic bishops' pastoral letter on the economy made clear that significant changes have occurred in the way Christianity views the economy. At the present time Catholic and liberal Protestant leaders are calling for basic economic changes, while some Fundamentalist leaders...
| Authors: | ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
1988
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| In: |
Sociological analysis
Year: 1988, Volume: 49, Pages: 78S-96S |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The recent American Catholic bishops' pastoral letter on the economy made clear that significant changes have occurred in the way Christianity views the economy. At the present time Catholic and liberal Protestant leaders are calling for basic economic changes, while some Fundamentalist leaders are actively defending capitalism. The question studied is whether these religious traditions and their spokespersons are affecting popular opinion on economic matters. Data came from a random sample of Middletown residents (N=379). A factor analysis of items based on the pastoral letter resulted in five factors being extracted. This study focused on the two factors accounting for the greatest amount of variance. One factor contained items relating to economic restructuring. The other seemed to express the classical view that a community should aid the poor and helpless. Social class indicators were positively related to the Classical Scale and negatively related to the Economic Restructuring Scale. The relations among these scales, religious affiliation, and Fundamentalism were complex. A noteworthy finding is that support for economic restructuring may be found among non-Fundamentalist Catholics and Fundamentalist Protestants. This and other findings are discussed in the paper. |
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| ISSN: | 2325-7873 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociological analysis
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3711145 |