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10 - The Religious Affiliations of Ivy League Presidents, 1636–2012

A Study in Religious Stratification*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

By
Deborah L. Coe  and
James D. Davidson
Edited by
Lisa A. Keister  and
Darren E. Sherkat
Deborah L. Coe
Affiliation:
Presbyterian Church
Lisa A. Keister
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Darren E. Sherkat
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
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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 America
Research and Theory on Religion's Role in Stratification
 , pp. 240 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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