The spillover effect postulates that participation in nonpolitical realms of people's lives will affect their political orientations and behavior. Data from the 1987 NORC General Social Survey are used to test these expectations with respect to participation in religious organizations. Results indicate that greater involvement in churches goes with more conservatism and somewhat greater politicization, although there are some variations by race, sex, and denomination.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bachrach, Peter.1967. The theory of democratic elitism: A critique.Boston: Little, Brown.
2.
Beatty, Kathleen Murphy, and B. Oliver Walter .1984. Religious preference and practice: Reevaluating their impact on political tolerancePublic Opinion Quarterly48:318-29
3.
. Benson, John M.1981. The polls: A rebirth of religion?Public Opinion Quarterly45:576-85
4.
. Blumberg, Paul.1968. Industrial democracy.New York : Schocken.
5.
Cook, Elizabeth Adell, and Clyde Wilcox.1990. Religious orientations & political attitudes among blacks in Washington, D.CPolity22:527-43
6.
. Dahl, Robert A.1970. After the revolution?New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
7.
Davis, James A., and Tom W. Smith.1988. General social surveys: 1972-1988 (computer file). Storrs, CT: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
8.
Erikson, Robert S., Norman R. Luttbeg, and Kent L. Tedin.1988. American public opinion3rd ed. New York: Macmillan.
9.
Flanigan, William H., and Nancy H. Zingale.1987. Political behavior and the American electorate.6th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
10.
Gallup, George, Jr. , and Jim Castelli.1989. The people's religion.New York: Macmillan.
11.
Greenberg, Edward S.1975. Theories of worker participationSocial Science Quarterly56: 191-209
12.
. Guth, James L., Ted G. Jelen, Lyman A. Kellstedt, Corwin E. Smidt, and Kenneth D. Wald. 1988.
13.
The politics of religion in AmericaAmerican Politics Quarterly16:357-97
14.
. Mason, Ronald.1978. Participation in the workplace and in governmentPaper presented at Midwest Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago
15.
Milbrath, Lester W., and M.L. Goel.1977. Political participation.2d ed. Chicago: Rand-McNally.
16.
Neuhaus, Richard John.1990. Religion in America: On the failure of polls to tell us what we need to knowThe Public Perspective2:1-5
17.
. Niemi, Richard G., John Mueller, and Tom W. Smith.1989. Trends in public opinion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
18.
Pateman, Carole.1970. Participation and democratic theory.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Peterson, Steven A.1990. Political behavior: Patterns in everyday life.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
20.
Stouffer, Samuel.1955. Communism, conformity, and civil liberties.New York: Wiley.
21.
Sullivan, John L., James Piereson, and George Marcus.1982. Political tolerance and American democracy.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
22.
Verba, Sidney.1961. Small groups and political behavior.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
23.
Verba, Sidney, and Norman H. Nie.1972. Participation in AmericaNew York: Harper & Row.
24.
Wald, Kenneth D.1987. Religion & Politics.New York: St. Martin's.
25.
-. 1989. Assessing the religious factor in electoral behavior In Religion in American politics, edited by Charles W. Dunn. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.