Charles W. Peek

Race and Attitudes Toward Local Police Another Look

Using 1973 national poll data, this article finds that race and nine other standard demographic variables account for little of the variation in how well people like their local police. Nevertheless, several weak but intriguing relationships emerge. While blacks dislike local police significantly more than whites, age, rather than race, is the best predictor in the overall sample. Further, different forces are related to these attitudes within

GENDER, GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND ANIMAL RIGHTS ADVOCACY

Research on womens preponderance among animal rights advocates explains it exclusively as a product of womens socialization, emphasizing a relational orientation of care and nurturing that extends to animals. The authors propose a more structural explanation: Womens experiences with structural oppression make them more disposed to egalitarian ideology, which creates concern for animal rights. Using data from a 1993 national sample, the authors find that an egalitarian gender ideology is a key difference in womens and mens routes to animal rights advocacy: It differentiates those more likely to endorse animal rights among women but not among men. Neither this ideology nor other variables in the analysis, however, account for womens greater overall support of animal rights in the combined sample. Reasons for this latter finding are explored.

Religiosity, Sensation Seeking, and Alcohol/Drug Use in Denominational and Gender Contexts:

Well documented though they may be, the linkages between religiosity and risk behaviors such as substance use are not well understood. Arousal theory contends that these linkages are due to selective factors in religious participation rather than to religious influences: those most likely to engage in risk behaviors—sensation seekers—are less likely to have church affiliations. Issues addressed in this research were: (a) the importance of sensation seeking, and the interaction of sensation seeking and religiosity, in explaining the relationships between religiosity and the use of both legal and illegal substances; and (b) the variations in these relationships as a function of denominational and gender contexts. Employing a sample of 526 college student respondents, we found no support for arousal theory predictions nor for moderating effects of denominational and gender contexts. Religiosity, sensation seeking, denominational affiliation, and gender were relatively independent predictors of substance use, with their importance varying dependent upon type of substance and specific indicator of use (amount versus grade of first use).

Gender, Relational Role Orientation, and Affinity for Animal Rights

Research based mainly on non-national samples reports a greater affinity for animal rights among women than men, and proposes a greater relational role orientation among women that emphasizes caring for others to explain this difference. Using a recent national sample comprised of 11% African American and 89% white American respondents, we find that a relational role orientation fails to account for women’s greater support of animal rights. It does provide minor help in distinguishing animal rights advocates from nonadvocates, but only among women and only on one of two measures of animal rights support. We conclude by proposing women’s structural locations as well as the interplay between these locations and women’s role socialization as alternate explanations for gender differences in affinity for animal rights.

Religiosity and Black Militancy: A Reappraisal

Data from a 1969 nationwide sample of black adults revealed a weaker association between religiosity and militant attitudes than Marx found in a 1964 sample. Further exploration uncovered an interesting reason for this finding. In 1964 blacks who were more religious were less militant within each of several age, sex, and denominational categories Marx examined, whereas in 1969 this was not the case. Among older black adults, males and Baptists, the more religious were decidedly less militant, perhaps even more so than in 1964. However, among younger black adults, females and members of denominations other than Baptists, the relationship was reversed: the more religious were slightly more militant. Since additional investigation disclosed no compelling methodological reason for this finding, we suggest that it might be interpreted in terms of changes between 1964 and 1969 in the meaning of militancy to particular segments of the black population and/or in the cultural systems of predominantly black churches.

Religious Affiliation, Religiosity and Racial Prejudice: A New Look at Old Relationships

Based on a rewiew of mainly pre-1970 studies about the association between religion and prejudice among whites, Gorsuch and Aleshire conclude that church members display higher levels of prejudice than the unchurched; highly active members are less prejudiced than less active members; and members of fundamentalist groups exhibit greater prejudice than nonfundamentalists. Yet, these conclusions may not apply to the associations between religion and racial prejudice because (1) the majority of the studies which support these conclusions focus on prejudice in general or prejudice against other groups; (2) studies which do focus on prejudice toward blacks are almost never based on representative national samples; and (3) results of these studies may be contaminated by the failure to control for key variables, especially social status. Analysis of data from three recent national representative NORC samples (1972, 1976, 1977) raises questions about each conclusion.

Religion and ideological support for social movements : The case of animal rights

This paper intersects two recent trends in social movement research: rediscovery of the centrality of both ideology and religion to understanding social movements. Using two recent national surveys, we assess the extent to which three religious beliefs and one religiously linked belief are related to ideological support for the animal rights movement in the general public. Among both women and men, the belief that God is in nature and a religiously linked opposition to science facilitate support for animal rights, counteracting the negative impact of greater church attendance. However, biblical literalism and a gracious image of God have little effect on acceptance of animal rights. We conclude by considering implications of these results for subsequent research on religion and ideological support for racial movements.

LADIES AGAINST WOMEN: Explaining the Political Participation of Traditional- and Modern-Role Females

Data from the 1980 National Election Study are used to examine how well participation theory variables and group consciousness variables account for the nonvoting political activity of traditional-role women. Of the little variance in this activity that is explained by a regression analysis among these women (.070 after adjustments for number of respondents and variables, compared to .240 among modern-role women), most is due to two participation theory variables: party identification and efficacy. However, a discriminant function analysis emphasizes two group consciousness variables (gender consciousness and religious consciousness) and only one participation theory variable (political ideology) as the main forces that distinguish active traditional-role from active modern-role women. These findings indicate the need to make clear which comparison group — other traditional-role women or politically active modern-role women — is being used in efforts to understand traditional-role womens political conduct. The findings also call for new theoretical directions about traditional-role womens nonvoting participation, because of the weak explanatory ability exhibited by all fourteen variables together.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Fundamentalist Fears about Drunken Driving

Using data from four yearly probability surveys (1972-1975) in a deep-south city, an effort is made to explore the feasibility of deterrence theory for understanding how involvement in Protestant religious subcultures affects drunken driving. Among the more religious respondents, fundamentalists are more likely than others to believe there is a higher risk of receiving specific sanctions for dunken driving. This relationship is strongest among males, the better educated, and respondents over 35. To the extent that these differences in fear of sanctions are linked to variations in deviant conduct, deterrence theory is a promising approach for understanding the consequences of religion for deviance.

The Effects of Switching on Denominational Subcultures

For many years, sociologists have examined the role of religious collectivities in shaping individual attitudes and behaviors. This research has assumed that religious groups are the “locus of subcultural differences” in social attitudes. However, scholars have not addressed how denominational mobility or switching affects denominational subcultures. Our research uses data from the General Social Surveys to examine the consequences of switching on denominational subcultures. Our analysis investigates denominational differences in central tendencies and differences in homogeneity for “switchers” and those who remain affiliated with the same religious group over the life course. Further, comparisons of both types of religious group differences are adjusted to account for sociodemographic characteristics. Several promising directions for future research on religious variations in social values and attitudes are discussed.