Item Detail
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12980
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3
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0
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English
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Religious and Regional Sources of Attitudes Toward Blacks among Southern Mormons
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Washington State University
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Ph.D. diss.
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"Data for this study were obtained from a random and purposive sample of Mormons residing principally in Alabama and Georgia. It is a basic replication of the theoretical model developed by Charles Y. Glock and Rodney Stark on the relationship between Christian beliefs and anti-Semitism, and the use of essentially the same model by Armand L. Mauss in his analysis of Western Mormon attitudes toward Jews and Blacks. Several indices were developed to measure the main variables under examination. Four composite indices were the principal ones used for this purpose: (1) a generalized Index of Religious Provincialism, based on specific measures of orthodoxy, particularism and nonlibertarianism; (2) an Index of Religious Hostility toward Blacks, based on specific Mormon beliefs that denied them access to the lay priesthood of the Church; (3) an Index of Anti-Black Prejudice, based on negative stereotypes about Blacks; and (4) an Index of Anti-Black Discrimination, based on the desire to segregate Blacks in churches, schools and neighborhoods. It was found that Southern Mormons are especially strongly affected by their religious doctrine, and they are significantly more orthodox in this regard than are Western Mormons. The regional Southern heritage appeared to be important in understanding special Southern Mormon differences from Western Mormons. The indices of Anti-Black Prejudice and Anti-Black Discrimination themselves indicate that the Southerners' higher overall rates of both prejudice and discrimination compared to the Western Mormons, are probably due to the regional factor." [Author's abstract]