No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Churches as Organizational Resources
A Case Study in the Geography of Religion and Political Voting in Postwar Detroit
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2016
Abstract
Employing a historical dataset on Detroit in the 1950s, this article uses geographic models to show the political impact of churches and religious populations on presidential voting. Multilevel models separate the relative impact of individual denomination, the effect of congregants in neighborhoods, and the importance of the physical presence of a church. Existing studies of geography and religion examine a few denominations; here a full set of religious denominations is compared on support for Democratic Party voting and “social movement-like” voting for the Progressive Party. Mainline Protestant churches are associated with support for a conservative social agenda. The presence of synagogues and Catholic churches in neighborhoods is positively related to progressive electoral outcomes. Black Protestant churches are positively related to Democratic Party voting but did not alter the Progressive Party vote. The effect of denomination on political behavior and the geographic extent of a church’s influence on surrounding urban communities are shown to be spatially segregated and to depend on the class structure of neighborhoods.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Social Science History Association 2007
References
Allinsmith, Wesley, and Allinsmith, Beverly (1948) “Religious affiliation and politico-economic attitude: A study of eight major U.S. religious groups.” Public Opinion Quarterly 12: 377–89.Google Scholar
Angell, Robert, Kahn, Robert, and Weiss, Robert (1956) Orientation on Moral Issues in a Metropolis and the Meaning of Work [machine-readable file]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Axelrod, Morris, and Blood, Robert (1955) A Description of Urban Kinship Patterns and the Urban Family [machine-readable file]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Berelson, Bernard, Lazarsfeld, Paul, and McPhee, William (1954) Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Borer, Tristan (1996) “Church leadership, state repression, and the ’spiral of involvement’ in the South African anti-apartheid movement, 1983-1990,” in Smith, Christian (ed.) Disruptive Religion. New York: Routledge: 125–41.Google Scholar
Bradley, Martin, Green, Norman M. Jr., Jones, Dale E., Lynn, Mac, and McNeil, Lou (1992) Churches and Church Membership, 1990: An Enumeration by Region, State, and County Based on Data Reported for 133 Church Groupings. Cincinnati, OH: Glenmary Research Center.Google Scholar
Breault, Kevin (1989) “New evidence on religious pluralism, urbanism, and religious participation.” American Sociological Review 54: 1048–53.Google Scholar
Bukowczyk, John J. (1987) And My Children Did Not Know Me: A History of the Polish-Americans. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Childs, John Brown (1980) The Political Black Minister: A Study in Afro-American Politics and Religion. Boston: Hall.Google Scholar
Deskins, Donald (1972) Residential Mobility of Negroes in Detroit, 1837-1965. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Geographical Publications.Google Scholar
Detroit Council of Churches (1951) Directory of Churches and Other Religious Organizations in Metropolitan Detroit. Detroit: Detroit Council of Churches.Google Scholar
Dietz, Thomas, Kalof, Linda, and Frey, R. Scott (1991) “On the utility of robust and resampling procedures.” Rural Sociology 56: 461–74.Google Scholar
Eldersveld, Samuel, with Freeman, Ronald, Dodge, Richard, and Belanoff, Sidney (1957) Political Affiliation in Metropolitan Detroit. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Finke, Roger, and Rodney, Stark (1988) “Religious economies and sacred canopies.” American Sociological Review 53: 41–49.Google Scholar
Foladare, Irving (1968) “The effect of neighborhood on voting behavior.” Political Science Quarterly 83: 516–29.Google Scholar
Freedman, Ronald, and Janowitz, Morris (1954) Ideal Family Size in Detroit and Administrative Behavior in a Metropolitan Community [machine-readable file]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Glantz, Oscar (1959) “Protestant and Catholic voting behavior in a metropolitan area.” Public Opinion Quarterly 23: 73–82.Google Scholar
Greeley, Andrew (1972) The Denominational Society: A Sociological Approach to Religion in America. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Lawrence C. (1992) Regression with Graphics: A Second Course in Applied Statistics. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Harris, Fredrick (1999) Something Within: Religion in African American Political Activism. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harvey, David (1985) The Urbanization of Capital: Studies in the History and Theory of Capitalist Urbanization. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Huckfeldt, Robert (1986) Politics in Context: Assimilation and Conflict in Urban Neighborhoods. New York: Agathon.Google Scholar
Huckfeldt, Robert, Plutzer, Eric, and Sprague, John (1993) “Alternative contexts of political behavior: Churches, neighborhoods, and individuals.” Journal of Politics 55: 365–81.Google Scholar
Katz, Daniel, and Eldersveld, Samuel (1961) “The impact of local political activity upon the electorate.” Public Opinion Quarterly 25: 18–19.Google Scholar
Katz, Daniel, Eldersveld, Samuel, and Kish, Leslie (1957) Party Leadership and Political Behavior and Intra-class Correlation of Attitudes in Detroit [machine-readable file]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Land, Kenneth, Deane, Glenn, and Blau, Judith (1991) “Religious pluralism and church membership: A spatial diffusion model.” American Sociological Review 56: 237–49.Google Scholar
Lazarsfeld, Bernard, Berelson, Bernard, and Gaudet, Hazel (1944) The People’s Choice. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce.Google Scholar
Lenski, Gerhard (1958) The Religious Factor [machine-readable file]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Lenski, Gerhard (1963) The Religious Factor: A Sociologist’s Inquiry. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Manza, Jeff, and Brooks, Clem (1997) “The religious factor in U.S. presidential elections, 1960-1192.” American Journal of Sociology 103: 38–81.Google Scholar
Manza, Jeff, and Brooks, Clem (2002) “The changing political fortunes of mainline Protestants,” in Wuthnow, Robert and Evans, John H. (eds.) The Quiet Hand of God: Faith-Based Activism and the Public Role of Mainline Protestantism. Berkeley: University of California Press: 159–78.Google Scholar
McGreevy, John (1996) Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McVeigh, Rory, and Sikkink, David (2001) “God, politics, and protest: Religious beliefs and the legitimation of contentious tactics.” Social Forces 79: 1425–58.Google Scholar
Meier, August, and Rudwick, Elliott (1979) Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, Daniel, Swanson, Guy, and Newcomb, Theodore (1953) Child Training Patterns among Urban Families and Attitudes and Perceptions of Consensus of Group Members [machine-readable file]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Moon, Elaine L. (1994) Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes: An Oral History of Detroit’s African American Community. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Morris, Aldon (1984) The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
National Council of Churches of Christ (1956) Churches and Church Membership in the United States. New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.Google Scholar
Newman, William, and Halvorson, Peter L. (2000) Patterns in Pluralism, 1952-1971. Cincinnati, OH: Glenmary Research Center.Google Scholar
Petras, James, and Zeitlin, Maurice (1967) “Miners and agrarian radicalism.” American Sociological Review 32: 578–86.Google Scholar
Pratt, Henry (2004) Churches and Urban Government in Detroit and New York, 1895-1994. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Rabe-Hesketh, Sophia, and Skrondal, Anders (2005) Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata. College Station, TX: Stata.Google Scholar
Raudenbush, Stephen W., and Bryk, Anthony S. (2002) Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Reed, Adolph L. (1986) The Jesse Jackson Phenomenon: The Crisis of Purpose in Afro-American Politics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Rockaway, Robert A. (1986) The Jews of Detroit: From the Beginning, 1762-1914. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Roof, Wade C., and McKinney, William (1987) American Mainline Religion: Its Changing Shape and Future. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Sarason, Stephen, and Sarason, Vera (1957) Political Party Patterns in Michigan. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Smallwood, Frank (1983) The Other Candidates: Third Parties in Presidential Elections. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Smith, Tom (1990) “Classifying Protestant denominations.” Review of Religious Research 31: 225–45.Google Scholar
Southworth, Caleb (2002) “Aid to sharecroppers: How agrarian class structure and tenant-farmer politics influenced federal relief in the South, 1933-1935.” Social Science History 26: 37–74.Google Scholar
Southworth, Caleb, and Stepan-Norris, Judith (2003) “The geography of class: Connections between workplace and neighborhood politics.” Social Problems 50: 319–47.Google Scholar
Steensland, Brian, Park, Jerry, Mark, Regnerus, Robinson, Lynn, Wilcox, W. Bradford, and Woodberry, Robert (2000) “The measure of American religion: Toward improving the state of the art.” Social Forces 79: 291–318.Google Scholar
Sugrue, Thomas (1996) The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Tate, Katherine (1993) From Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Elections. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tentler, Leslie W. (1990) Seasons of Grace: A History of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Tingsten, Herbert (1937) Political Behavior: Studies in Election Statistics. London: King.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce (1952) United States Census of Population: 1950, Detroit, MI, vol. 3, chap. 17. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay, and Brady, Henry (1995) Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wald, Kenneth (1989) Religion and Politics in the United States. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly.Google Scholar
Wald, Kenneth, Owen, Dennis, and Hill, Samuel Jr. (1988) “Churches as political communities.” American Political Science Review 82: 531–48.Google Scholar
Webster, Gerald R. (2000) “Geographical patterns of religious denomination affiliation in Georgia, 1970-1990: Population change and growing urban diversity.” Southeastern Geographer 40: 25–51.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert (1988) The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith since World War II. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert (1989) The Struggle for America’s Soul: Evangelicals, Liberals, and Secularism. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Zald, Mayer, and McCarthy, John (1994) “Religious groups as crucibles of social movements,” in Zald, Mayer N. and McCarthy, John D. (eds.) Social Movements in an Organizational Society. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction: 67–95.Google Scholar
Zelinsky, Wilbur (1960) “The religious composition of the American population.” Geographical Review 50: 272–73.Google Scholar
Zelizer, Viviana (1979) Morals and Markets: The Development of Life Insurance in the United States. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar