Theses/Dissertations - Sociology

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Expanding the new paradigm: winners and losers among exclusive and nonexclusive religious firms in the Chinese and Japanese communities in the United States, 1850-1945.
(2006-07-24T20:54:54Z) Liu, Eric Y.; Stark, Rodney.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
From the perspective of a refined religious economy theory, the present paper is the first to empirically study the interplay between exclusive and nonexclusive religious bodies. Through reconstructing the historical facts of Chinese and Japanese immigration to the pre-1945 United States, I find that: 1) under certain social circumstances, an exclusive religious firm (e.g., the Christian mission church) with problematic styles of religious delivery give way to its nonexclusive competitors (e.g., the Chinese temple and the Japanese Buddhist church); 2) among nonexclusive religious groups those who adopt a congregational structure (e.g., the Japanese Shin Buddhist church) grow and thrive, while those otherwise tend to die out (e.g., the Chinese temple and the Shinto shrine) in face of social conflict. The implications of this study are discussed.
The importance of economic surroundings on religious adherence.
(2006-07-30T13:18:07Z) Smith, Buster G.; Bader, Christopher David.; Tolbert, Charles M.; North, Charles Mark, 1964-; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Sociological explanations of religious adherence tend to focus on characteristics of the individual. One exception is the largely discarded concept of relative deprivation. By its nature, relative deprivation is dependent upon the comparative nature of one's relationship with fellow members of a community. This study expands upon the premise of relative deprivation by exploring the role that the ecological economic characteristics of a community play in determining religious adherence. Independent analyses are performed at the county-level, with Evangelical and Mainline Protestant adherence rates as the dependent variable to test several associated hypotheses. A combination of U.S. census and RCMS data from 2000 suggest that economic surroundings are important determinants of religious selection. In particular, income inequality has diametrically opposed effects on the adherence rates of Protestant denominations, with Evangelicals benefiting and Mainline groups suffering. Explanations include the need for boundaries and doctrinal claims of the how the world functions.
Underutilization of medication to treat ADHD in African American children: reasoned action and planned behavior.
(2006-07-30T21:57:03Z) Embry, Elizabeth L.; Rodabough, Tillman B., 1939-; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common mental illness diagnoses given to children today. While African American children are diagnosed with the disorder at approximately the same rate as Anglo children, they are disproportionately underrepresented in medication therapy programs. This study uses Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action and Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior to explore the factors underlying African American's decision to use medication to treat their child's ADHD. While the theory of reasoned action explains most of the variance in intention to seek medication for a child with ADHD, the theory of planned behavior adds to the explanatory power of the model and causes the effect of race to disappear.
Taken for granted? Exploring the relationships between social service agencies and religious congregations.
(2006-07-30T23:57:12Z) Polson, Edward C.; Bader, Christopher David.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Religious congregations play a significant role in the provision of social services in American communities. While some congregations establish their own social service programs, most do not. Instead, the majority of congregations providing social services do so by forming relationships with local service organizations. To date, however, few studies have examined these relationships in detail. Drawing on interview and survey data collected from agency directors, this research explores the relationships that exist between congregations and social service agencies in one Texas city. Research findings suggest that there are four primary types of relationships that develop between congregations and service agencies. These relationship types are identified and discussed. In addition, attention is given to the ways that service agencies utilize various congregational resources in these relationships and the ways that agencies negotiate religious and secular boundaries with the congregations that they relate to.
Look who's talking about religion.
(2006-10-13T16:48:51Z) Staha, Melissa B.; Froese, Paul.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
There is an ongoing debate about the health of America's civil society, the decline in participation of certain types of political activity, and the increasing rhetoric surrounding religion and politics. Using a national survey concerning religious and political beliefs, this paper examines which types of people are proselytizing, who is comfortable talking about religion and finally, how those two conditions influence opinions and actions concerning politics. We find that witnessing is about religious involvement and not necessarily about belief. Political conservatives who do not roselytize are more comfortable talking about religion. Those who are conservative, comfortable talking about religion, and who proselytize want religion to be in the public sphere and are less tolerant of other viewpoints. Finally, those who proselytize are interested in conversion and are not as politically active, while those who are comfortable talking about religion are more politically involved.
Race, religion, and homosexuality: Black Protestants and homosexual acceptance.
(2006-12-05T23:20:28Z) Lewis-Williams, Jeniece T.; Park, Jerry Z.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
This paper explores the relationship between race, religion, and acceptance of homosexuality. Many question the disapproval of African Americans in the homosexual fight for gay rights, especially considering their activity in the civil rights movement (Douglas and Hopson, 2001). Here I look at the empirical relationship between race and religion, and how that relationship influences support of homosexuality. It is hypothesized Black Protestants will be less likely than all other religious groups to approve of homosexuality, and that this effect will be even greater for more religious African Americans. Using 2004 General Social Survey data, I find that Black Protestants do have a strong level of disapproval of homosexuality and that there is an interaction between more religious Black Protestants and their disapproval of homosexuality.
The significance of place: a multilevel analysis situating trust in a community context.
(2008-06-09T14:31:54Z) Krey, Kathy W.; Tolbert, Charles M.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
The alleged decline of social capital is a source of considerable debate and research within the social sciences. Defined loosely as the intrinsic value of networks, social capital connects citizens and promotes a healthy society. This emphasis on the value of social capital helped launch trust to the forefront of national attention and concern. Trust is essential to social capital as the process of building relationships and maintaining connections would not be possible without it. Research has yet to fully investigate and establish the sources of social trust leaving inadequate knowledge of the circumstances under which it may exist. This study of a large recent social capital survey demonstrates that, controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle and location factors, being involved in society is positively associated with social trust. However, by considering community level variables like poverty, education, urbanization and violent crime, it is clear that involvement’s effect on social trust is mediated at the group level. Therefore, community level characteristics cannot be ignored as important factors that have the power to influence an individual’s social trust levels.
Labor “meats” religion: economic restructuring in the meatpacking industry and religious adherence in the Midwest.
(2008-06-09T16:05:16Z) Palmer-Boyes, Ashley E.; Bader, Christopher David.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Labor market trends are often examined in light of their economic significance. However, little attention has been devoted to the relationship between economic trends and their potential impact on religion. Focusing on the consequences of economic restructuring, I argue that labor market variables have consequences for rates of religious adherence. Specifically, I examine an industry which well exemplifies the consequences of restructuring in the Midwestern United States, the meat processing industry. As a result of restructuring, many processors have relocated to rural communities in the Midwest, which lack a sufficient native labor supply to meet the employment needs of the packing plants, which have characteristically high rate of turnover. Consequently, packing plants have recruited and rely heavily on Hispanic immigrant labor to sustain operations. As Hispanic immigrants migrate to rural Midwestern counties, they bring their religion with them, over time increasing the share of Catholic adherents in their destination communities.
Evangelical Democrats and role conflict.
(2008-06-09T16:30:57Z) Rhodes, Jeremy R.; Dougherty, Kevin D.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Evangelical Protestants have increasingly aligned with the Republican Party in their voting patterns and opinions since the late 1970’s. As a result, this alignment of Evangelical Protestantism with the GOP could present a dilemma for Evangelical Democrats, whose religious and political identities are perceived by many to be in conflict with one another. The present study tests whether Evangelical Democrats seek to avoid role conflict by having lower levels of investment in either the religious or political components of their lives. Results find that Evangelical Democrats avoid role conflict by maintaining a lesser adherence to the religious component of their identity. In a final analysis, Evangelical Democrats are found to attend church significantly less than Democrats of other religious traditions while maintaining religious beliefs that are more conservative than these Democrats. Implications for role conflict among Evangelical Democrats are discussed.
Islam, sex, and sect: a quantitative look at women's rights in the Middle East.
(2008-06-10T19:47:00Z) González, Alessandra L.; Froese, Paul.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
In this paper I analyze Islamic Social Attitudes Survey (ISAS) data to see the effects of religious tradition and religious practice on attitudes about women’s rights among 1139 college students in Kuwait. Specifically, I test whether religious sect, religious school of thought, political identity, religious experience, religious salience, and religious practice have direct effects on women’s rights attitudes, while controlling for gender, in a majority-Muslim context. My findings show that gender, sect, religious school of thought, and political identity but not religious practice have persistent effects on attitudes about women’s rights.
Hispanic assimilation: are we there yet?
(2008-06-10T20:55:38Z) McMahon, Debbie Hardman.; Driskell, Robyn Bateman.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Hispanics made up 15% of the population in 2005 and the Census predicts that 25% of this country’s population will be Hispanic by 2050 (Sullivan, 2007). 70% of the nation’s growth during the last decade has been immigrants, the largest portion Hispanic. As the role of Hispanics in American society increases, the facts surrounding Hispanic assimilation become more important to everyone. Beginning in 2006, the General Social Survey was administered in Spanish or English, the primary language of the respondent. By including Hispanic respondents previously excluded from the survey, valuable information is obtained. Using this data, logistic regression is employed to examine factors that contribute to assimilation using primary language as a proxy. Comparing English-speaking Hispanics with Spanish-speaking Hispanics, distinctions in demographic variables and values are examined.
Federal employment concentration and regional process in nonmetropolitan America.
(2008-10-15T13:42:26Z) Johnson, Jodien M.; Mencken, Frederick Carson, 1964-; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Nonmetropolitan America has undergone significant changes over the past quarter of a century. From the population turnaround in the 1970s, to population decline in the 1980s, to population rebound in the 1990s, nonmetro counties have seen fluctuations in population and economic growth. Historically, nonmetropolitan America has been dependent on single sustenance activities such as farming, mining, and manufacturing which increases the instability of these counties. Less diversified than metropolitan areas, nonmetro areas have more strongly felt the effects of deindustrialization and globalization. While population change and economic growth and decline related to farming, mining, manufacturing, and increased service sector employment has been addressed both in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, less research has addressed the role of government in regional processes in nonmetropolitan communities. This study intends to contribute to the study of regional processes in nonmetropolitan America by looking at the effects of public sustenance structures (such as federal employment concentration) on measures of economic growth and development in nonmetro counties between 1990 and 2000.
Social disorganization theory and crime across the metropolitan-nonmetropolitan divide.
(2010-02-02T20:02:55Z) Parker, James Dale, 1979-; Mencken, Frederick Carson, 1964-; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
The study of social disorganization and its effects on crime has largely been focused on metropolitan areas. This paper focuses on property and violent crime as they occur in nonmetropolitan counties and advances research on the theory by addressing a few specific areas. First, it investigates the effects of social disorganization measures, including the interaction of socioeconomic status and residential mobility, on crime in nonmetropolitan areas. Second, it introduces the concept of international immigration as a predictor of crime within the framework of social disorganization. Finally, it compares the performance of social disorganization indicators in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas. Several aspects of social disorganization are supported, though not precisely as anticipated. Implications of this research as well avenues for future research are discussed.
Prestige inequality : the effects of family status and occupational segregation.
(2010-06-23T12:19:25Z) Garland, Anna Nicole.; Driskell, Robyn Bateman.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Wage inequality has been extensively studied in the social sciences, but few researchers have studied prestige inequality. This paper looks not only at prestige and wage inequality between genders, but also within genders, specifically investigating the effects of family status and occupational segregation. Using both occupational prestige and log of income as dependent variables in a variety of regressions, educational attainment, family characteristics, as well as workplace characteristics emerge as important variables in predicting occupational prestige and income. The main finding of this study is that inequality of both wages and prestige is perpetuated not only by innate characteristics, such as gender, but also through socio-demographic characteristics, such as marital status, children, and educational attainment. An individual's career path also attributes to higher or lower prestige. The most logical explanation for this variance in prestige and income is that employers use stereotypes, assumptions, and expectations to guide their hiring practices.
Migration, mobility and social disorganization in rural agricultural and recreational communities.
(2010-06-23T12:23:11Z) Pederson, Cassidy J.; Mencken, Frederick Carson, 1964-; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
This article seeks to examine how the economic base of a rural community affects mobility, social cohesion and crime. Drawing upon the wealth of research in criminology and the emerging research in the variety of rural communities, this research will seek to evaluate how social disorganization theory and residential stability affect crime rates in rural communities and how the economic base of rural communities affect the ability to socially organize and deter crime.
Science and religion in 21st century America : a sociological perspective.
(2010-06-23T12:30:38Z) Baker, Joseph O.; Bader, Christopher David.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
This study addresses empirical gaps and theoretical miscalculations in the understanding of science, religion, and their connections from a sociological perspective. Although this topic has been of great interest to classical and contemporary theorists in the social sciences, and has been examined using institutional approaches, there remains a dearth of empirical assessments addressing these connections. Specifically, this study explores patterns of belief about both science and religion, as well as their intersection, among the contemporary American populace. In addition to advancing the empirical understanding of how science and religion interact in American culture, amendments and clarifications to previous theoretical perspectives on these issues are posited. The 2007 Baylor Religion Survey offers a national, random sample with an extensive selection of quantitative measures of religious attitudes and behaviors, and also includes a battery of questions aimed at assessing American attitudes about mainstream science. Among the topics addressed are acceptance of evolution, support for teaching creationism in public schools, whether science and religion are incompatible, and whether people feel that mainstream scientists are hostile to religious faith. Before delving into the empirical issues at hand, the initial chapter presents an extensive reworking of previous theoretical perspectives employed to understand these issues. The measures of attitudes toward issues involving science then serve as the focus in early substantive chapters. The final chapters outline how views of science and religion are woven into the broader moral and ideological fabric of American culture and suggest future paths of intellectual inquiry.
Social class and morality.
(2010-06-23T12:32:04Z) Farrar, Jessica D.; Kendall, Diana Elizabeth.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
In light of recent economic events in the United States, there has been widespread discussion about the morally questionable actions of financial elites; this raises the question of whether or not there is a link between social class and moral attitudes. This study addresses this issue using data from the 2006 General Social Survey, while also taking into consideration the effects of religion on moral attitudes. For the purpose of simplicity, morality is taken to mean behavior and beliefs that conform to moral law or socially accepted moral standards; I look at general attitudes, not specific types of behavior. Likewise, the U.S. class structure is identified as a multidimensional construct that relies equally upon economic and social identity; the class structure is less a group of distinct categories, but rather more of a continuum that, generally speaking, contains upper, middle, and lower levels.
Congregational growth, closure, identity, and diversity.
(2010-06-23T12:32:57Z) Maier, Jared E.; Dougherty, Kevin D.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Despite stories of secularization in America, congregations still possess power as one of America's most prolific social organizations. Their power can be seen by the fact that congregations receive the highest proportion of philanthropic donations of any social institution (Hoge, Zech, McNamara, and Donahue 1996), and are the greatest outlet of voluntarism in the United States (Putnam 2000). This dissertation explores four central issues pertaining to congregations: growth, closure, identity, and diversity. Heterogeneity by age is related to growth in American congregations, while homogeneity by belief is related to congregational growth in Evangelical congregations. Age liabilities of newness and oldness are associated with closure in congregations that have a free-church tradition. Beliefs stand out above denominational affiliation and self-identification in terms of identifying who is Evangelical. Finally, there is potential of racially diverse congregations to assist in the changing of attitudes and actions toward people of a different race.
Caste, class, and city : the shaping of religious social capital in contemporary India.
(2010-06-23T12:33:31Z) Stroope, Samuel M.; Froese, Paul.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
Building on the implications of qualitative work from India and urbanism theories, I aim to understand how religious bonding social capital in contemporary India varies along greater urbanization and whether social class or caste affects such differences. I use a multinomial logistic regression on 1,417 Hindu respondents in a nationally representative sample of India (World Values Survey-India 2001). Results indicate that religious social capital is fostered by urbanism and that this association is stronger for upper castes. Conversely, there is little evidence that social class similarly mediates the connection between urbanism and greater religious social capital. In light of these findings, religious bonding might be better understood as rooted in the interaction of caste dynamics and changes in the urban environment, rather than as a result of greater affluence. The data are also consistent with work underscoring the importance of disentangling social class and caste among Hindus in contemporary India.
Judge not lest ye be judged : relationships between body mass index and engagement in a religious community.
(2010-10-08T16:18:03Z) Granstra, Shanna L.; Park, Jerry Z.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.
According to the Center for Disease Control, obesity is currently at epidemic proportions in the United States. Approximately a third of American adults are obese. With the prevalence of obesity in the United States has come scholarly interest into how obesity is related to health, psychological, and social outcomes. The purpose of this study is to discover if there is a positive or negative relationship between obesity and engagement in a religious community. Results are gendered and mixed; obese women are more likely than women of a healthy weight to be members of a religious community, but attend less often. This suggests that while religious beliefs are strong enough to overcome fear of stigmatization in joining a social community, they are not strong enough to prompt obese women to actually socialize within the religious community, perhaps because of expected stigmatization.

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