#1705
RELIGION AND SOCIAL MOBILITY IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY
by N e i l Jack Weller
(Abstract o f a d i s s e r t a t i o n submitted i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l l m e n t o f the requirements f o r the Ph.D. degree i n the Department o f Sociology, U n i v e r s i t y of
Michigan, 1960)
This study i n v e s t i g a t e s comparative rates o f v e r t i c a l m o b i l i t y among Catholics
and Protestants. The o b j e c t i v e i s t o appraise the e f f e c t s of r e l i g i o u s values
upon s o c i a l m o b i l i t y i n contemporary American u r b a n - I n d u s t r i a l s o c i e t y . On
t h i s question, current theories c o n f l i c t , and e m p i r i c a l evidence i s both i n adequate and c o n t r a d i c t o r y .
The research focuses on these issues: (1) Catholic-Protestant d i f f e r e n c e s i n
i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l occupational, income and educational I n a b i l i t y ; (2) the
s t r a t a , both o f o r i g i n and d e s t i n a t i o n , which c o n s t i t u t e the l o c i o f these
d i f f e r e n c e s ; (3) the s i g n i f i c a n c e o f d i f f e r e n t i a l life-chances and s t r u c t u r a l
r i g i d i t y l n the occupational system i t s e l f f o r the magnitude o f r e l i g i o u s d i f ferences; (4) the Implications o f the f i n d i n g s f o r assessing the character o f
current s o c i a l trends i n America.
Through the f a c i l i t i e s o f the D e t r o i t Area Study, a cross-sectional p r o b a b i l i t y
sample (1177 cases) o f Catholics and Protestants i n the D e t r o i t metropolitan
area was studied. I n order t o standardize life-chances and s o c i a l i z a t i o n experience, the population was r e s t r i c t e d t o white males, c u r r e n t l y employed,
who were r a i s e d w i t h i n a northern-urban-Amerlean community. Education, ethn i c i t y , occupational d e s t i n a t i o n , income, and age were c o n t r o l l e d i n s p e c i f i c
contexts. A l l r e s u l t s summarized below deal w i t h patterns uncovered when
father's occupation I s held constant.
The f i n d i n g s i n d i c a t e t h a t Protestants excel i n income and, e s p e c i a l l y , occupat i o n a l m o b i l i t y — n o t a b l y , i n achieving upper white c o l l a r status and earnings
i n excess o f $10,000. Catholics are more downwardly mobile, p a r t i c u l a r l y i n
m u l t i p l e step descent t o the lower blue c o l l a r stratum. Within occupational
d e s t i n a t i o n s t r a t a , Protestants surpass Catholics I n Income. Protestants
generally exceed Catholics i n education. Most noteworthy are r e l i g i o u s d i f ferences i n r a t e s o f college graduates and high-school drop-outs. When educ a t i o n i s c o n t r o l l e d , Protestants s t i l l outdistance Catholics i n economic
success. E t h n i c i t y i s n e i t h e r s t r o n g l y nor c o n s i s t e n t l y r e l a t e d t o m o b i l i t y
d i f f e r e n t i a l s e i t h e r w i t h i n or between r e l i g i o u s groups. Age i s i n v e r s e l y
r e l a t e d t o the Protestant advantage l n v e r t i c a l m o b i l i t y , e s p e c i a l l y f o r educ a t i o n . I n general, r e l i g i o u s d i f f e r e n c e s l n v e r t i c a l m o b i l i t y are concentrated
i n the highest and lowest d e s t i n a t i o n s t r a t a and are larger among workers o f
white c o l l a r o r i g i n than blue c o l l a r o r i g i n . Protestants appear t o e x c e l , i n
p a r t i c u l a r , i n m o b i l i t y patterns which suggest high achievement o r i e n t a t i o n
and which r e q u i r e t r a i t s t r a d i t i o n a l l y associated w i t h the Protestant e t h i c —
f o r example, extreme upward m o b i l i t y and deferred g r a t i f i c a t i o n .
#1705
Protestant-Catholic differences are s u f f i c i e n t l y consistent i n p a t t e r n and
pronounced i n scope to conclude that there i s a s i g n i f i c a n t r e l a t i o n s h i p
between r e l i g i o n and s o c i a l m o b i l i t y i n D e t r o i t . Based upon analyses of
patterns of r e l i g i o u s differences i n m o b i l i t y achievement under p e r t i n e n t
sets of simultaneous c o n t r o l s , the f o l l o w i n g t e n t a t i v e conclusions emerge:
( 1 ) there i s no current trend toward increasing Catholic e q u a l i t y i n s o c i a l
m o b i l i t y ; (2) r e l i g i o u s - e t h n i c d i s c r i m i n a t i o n i s not a s i g n i f i c a n t obstacle
b l o c k i n g economic achievement f o r Catholics; (3) Protestants are more highly
motivated to achieve educational and economic success; (4) the margin of
P r o t e s t a n t s u p e r i o r i t y i s d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d to economic p r o s p e r i t y and f l u i d i t y
i n the occupational s t r u c t u r e .
I t i s hypothesized t h a t selfrcontalned r e l i g i o u s sub-communities and r e l i g i o u s
d i f f e r e n c e s i n class I d e n t i f i c a t i o n (or reference-group o r i e n t a t i o n ) w i t h i n
stratum of o r i g i n are two major factors t h a t f a c i l i t a t e the development o f
d i s s i m i l a r m o b i l i t y aspirations and achievement between Catholics and Protestants.
The evidence m i l i t a t e s against theories of s o c i a l change which stress the dev a l u a t i o n of achievement and work, the decline of m o b i l i t y o p p o r t u n i t i e s , the
r i s e to supremacy of the " s o c i a l e t h i c " over the Protestant e t h i c , and the
homogenization of character s t r u c t u r e and values among the urban masses, i n
America during the l a s t century. I n respect t o r e l i g i o n , the findings I n d i cate t h a t the success e t h i c i s i n t e r n a l i z e d i n greater measure by workers of
P r o t e s t a n t persuasion, bearing witness to the current relevancy of the "Weberian thesis" i n Detroit.