Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Part I Education
- Part II Income, Wealth, and the Labor Market
- Part III Attitudes, Cultural Capital, and Power
- 7 Religion and Gender Inequality
- 8 Social Reproduction and Religious Stratification
- 9 God in the Corner Office?
- 10 The Religious Affiliations of Ivy League Presidents, 1636–2012
- Part IV Health and Well-Being
- Part V Inequality and Religion
- Index
- References
10 - The Religious Affiliations of Ivy League Presidents, 1636–2012
A Study in Religious Stratification*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Part I Education
- Part II Income, Wealth, and the Labor Market
- Part III Attitudes, Cultural Capital, and Power
- 7 Religion and Gender Inequality
- 8 Social Reproduction and Religious Stratification
- 9 God in the Corner Office?
- 10 The Religious Affiliations of Ivy League Presidents, 1636–2012
- Part IV Health and Well-Being
- Part V Inequality and Religion
- Index
- References
Summary
Religious stratification was a prominent part of colonial America. Anglicans, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians were so dominant socially, economically, and politically that they became known as “the Protestant Establishment.” Below them was a second stratum consisting of Unitarians and the Religious Society of Friends (a.k.a. Quakers). All other Protestants, such as Baptists and Methodists, occupied a third stratum. Catholics, Jews, and people with no religious affiliation were at the bottom (Davidson and Pyle 2011; Pyle 1996; Pyle and Davidson 2003).
Scholars have different views of what has happened to religious stratification since the colonial period. Some emphasize the changes that have taken place, such as the decline in both hegemony and size of the Protestant Establishment and the upward mobility of Catholics and Jews (Baltzell 1958, 1964, 1976; Christopher 1989; Hammond 1992a, 1992b; Hutchison 1989; Roof and McKinney 1987; Schrag 1970; Schneiderman 1994). Others stress the continuities, pointing out that Episcopalians, UCC/Congregationalists, and Presbyterians are still at or near the top of society and that other groups, such as the Baptists, which were at or near the bottom of the status hierarchy in colonial times, still occupy that position (Davidson 2008; Feagin 1984; Greeley 1977; Knebel 1968; Pyle 1996; Rossides 1990; Sturdivant and Adler 1976).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Religion and Inequality in AmericaResearch and Theory on Religion's Role in Stratification, pp. 240 - 260Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014