Item Detail
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11979
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0
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0
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English
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Wealth, poverty, and religiously based attributions : A study of Utah County Mormons
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Provo, UT
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Brigham Young University
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214
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Ph.D diss.
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"The historical interplay between religion and beliefs about wealth and poverty has been acknowledged and elaborated on by 19th and 20th century economists and social theorists. Psychology has made some in-roads into understanding prevalent beliefs about the conditions of wealth and poverty, but has not yet focused specifically on how members of different religious groups understand and explain these conditions. This study was conducted in order to determine if members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") living in Utah County make different religious and spiritual attributions about wealthy members of their faith than for poor members of their faith. Results indicated that some Mormons living in Utah County do tend to make differing religious and spiritual attributions about fellow church members based on socioeconomic status--wealthy church members were perceived in a more positive spiritual light than were poor church members. Further analyses showed that participants who affiliated themselves with the Republican party, or who had the least amount of education, or who made the least amount of money, or who had the highest Protestant work ethic were most likely to attribute flattering spiritual qualities to a wealthy church member while being less likely to see a poor church member in a positive spiritual light. In contrast, those who affiliated themselves with the Democratic party, or who had the highest levels of education, or who made the most money, or had a lower Protestant work ethic tended to be more likely to attribute flattering spiritual qualities to a poor church member while being less likely to see a wealthy church member in flattering spiritual terms. Some of the potential reasons for these attributional differences were explored, along with considerations for future research directions." [Author's abstract]