Testing the Promise of the Churches: Income Inequality in the Opportunity to Learn Civic Skills in Christian Congregations

Political researchers point to church activities as a major avenue for lower-class individuals to learn the civic skills necessary for many forms of political participation, the skills that higher-status individuals learn through education and occupation. This article tests this theory through multilevel analyses of the effects of both individual income and average congregational income on three measures of participation in church activities and organizations that offer participants the opportunity to learn and exercise civic skills. The results show that churches are only slightly stratified when it comes to members’ participation in charity, public policy, or social justice organizations within the church, suggesting that they offer some promise to teach civic skills to the lower-income members. Nevertheless, churches are moderately stratified in terms of members’ participation in administration, finance, or buildings organizations within the church, and strongly stratified in organizations in general within the church, suggesting that higher-income members receive the majority of civic-skill practice and training in Christian congregations in the United States. Recently, sociologists and political scientists have bemoaned the decline of social capital and civic participation in the United States (e.g., Putnam 1995). The civic participation and social capital literatures proclaim a strong civil society to be a prerequisite for a proper functioning democracy. High levels of civic engagement preclude an overreliance on the state and help build a strong civil society. Lower levels of civic participation, on the other hand, lead to an apolitical populace with a lack of civic skills. Civic skills, such as organizing and public speaking, are essential for political participation, particularly nonelectoral or informal political participation. Without the skills necessary to participate in the political arena, people are left out of the democratic process. Social science research has begun to recognize the unequal distribution of civic skills in the United States, particularly between social and economic classes (e.g., Putnam 1995; Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995). Educational and occupational settings generally provide opportunities to learn civic skills, two settings in which lower-income individuals are disadvantaged. Middleand upper-income individuals learn many civic skills through education, which is more thorough and longer lasting for them than for lower-income individuals. They also learn and practice civic skills in occupations that emphasize writing, organizing, and leadership, occupations that are generally unattainable for the lower classes. Simply put, civic-skill education is extremely skewed toward the more privileged in contemporary America. Political researchers point to one possible ray of hope in this dim picture: the promise of the churches. Church members may take part in a variety of activities other than attending regular services that offer the opportunity to learn civic skills. Church members who participate in activities and organizations, and possibly help lead activities, can become proficient organizers, leaders, public speakers, and writers. Lower class participation in church activities and organizations can potentially equalize the disparities between social classes in civicskill education. While little research has been conducted on income disparities in membership in church organizations, the sociology of religion literature finds no significant correlation be566 P. Sc h w a d el i n Jou r na l f o r t he Sc i e nti f i c St udy of rel i g i on 41 tween people’s incomes and their general church attendance (e.g., Goode 1966; Mueller and Johnson 1975), which suggests that, perhaps, there is also no correlation between people’s incomes and their participation in the church activities that can help build civic skills. Political researchers repeatedly point to religious activities as a major source of civic-skill education, though their terminology often varies. For example, Peterson (1992) highlights the “spillover effect” in churches, whereby participation in religious activities “spills over” into political participation. Peterson’s examination also finds no correlation between income and church involvement, thus permitting the lower classes to benefit from the “spillover effect.” Similarly, Harris (1994) affirms his hypotheses concerning the intermediary positive relationship between church activism and political participation among African Americans. In their respective analyses of religion and politics, both Hougland and Christenson (1983) and Wald (1987) point to the importance of the civic skills learned through church participation. These researchers hold church participation to be a major civic-skill educator, particularly for the lower classes and minorities. Social capital research has also espoused the connection between church-related activities and political participation. Church activities are seen as a major opportunity to build civil society and, therefore, bring the lower classes into the political realm (e.g., Wood 1997). Similar to the political sociology and political science literatures, the social capital literature also holds churches to be a primary source of civic-skill education for the lower classes and minorities. In a comprehensive study of political participation in the United States, and one of the few thorough examinations of civic skills, Verba and colleagues conclude that the opportunity to learn civic skills in church “may partially compensate for the weakness of institutions that ordinarily function to mobilize the disadvantaged” (1995:333). Elsewhere, the same authors conclude, “in providing opportunities to exercise skills, workplaces discriminate the most— and churches least—on the basis of educational attainment” (Brady, Verba, and Scholzman 1995:275). These authors believe that the economic and racial homogeneity of local congregations produces the least stratified context for civic-skill education. Local congregations are seen as possibly the only place where the lower classes are given equal access to learn civic skills. The current research tests the promise of the churches hypothesis by examining the level of income inequality within church organizations in a sample of Christian congregations in the United States. A multilevel analysis will clarify not only the relationship between individuals’ income and their participation in church organizations, but also the relationship between average congregational income and participation in these organizations. This extends previous research in two ways: first, by testing the promise that churches offer equal opportunities for civic-skill education; and second, by investigating this research question through multilevel analysis, which allows for comparisons of individual and congregational/contextual effects of income on membership in church organizations. Social scientists recognize vast inequalities in our society. Many hope that churches do not simply reflect these inequalities.