“Just Reproduce After What I Taught You”

Abstract

Researchers consistently find that educational and familial settings unintentionally reproduce socioeconomic status (SES) via distinct socialization patterns in their community contexts. Yet there are surprisingly few studies examining this pattern as related to religious settings. This study extends the social reproduction literature by examining intended socialization of religious-based youth programs across SES of the areas in which religious congregations are located. Data analyzed are from the Northern Indiana Congregation Study, a high-response-rate phone survey with all religious congregations located within three contiguous cities, combined with U.S. Census data for the postal code of the congregation location, and in-person interviews with stratified-quota-sampled religious youth leaders. This analysis provides evidence for a spatially stratified pattern to religious youth socialization. Findings reveal how deeply socioeconomic reproduction permeates social life, including even the youth socialization practices of religious congregations, and indicates that low-income youth may be particularly disadvantaged in their available religious socialization.