ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses educational, income, and status stratification in US religion over a 15-year period, from the early 1980s to the late 1990s, in order to assess the extent and structure of social stratification in the American religious system. As the American religious system grew increasingly pluralistic over time, socioeconomic disparities between different religious communities transformed and persisted. Socioeconomic inequalities between religious groups have also played an important role in many sociological theories about religion and society. J. D. Hunter theorizes that socioeconomic differences between religious groups explain the persistence of conservative religion in modern society. As African Americans are socioeconomically disadvantaged in America’s racialized society, and African Americans cluster in African-American religious denominations, then African Americans’ socioeconomic disadvantage inevitably shows up in their religious denominations. Socioeconomically higher ranked religious groups also tend to involve more formal, liturgical, tradition-oriented styles of worship; lower ranked groups tend toward more openly expressive, informal, emotional, and “Spirit-filled” styles of worship.
