Alternative Contexts of Political Behavior: Churches, Neighborhoods, and Individuals

Abstract

This paper examines the political consequences that arise due to multiple and simultaneous bases of social experience. Two alternative contexts--those of neighborhoods and churches--provide an empirical setting for the effort; and the analysis focuses on two different political attitudes--policy preferences regarding abortion and partisan self-identification. Several questions are addressed: In what manner are the alternative contexts of politics different and in what manner are they similar? To what extent are churches and neighborhoods reinforcing in the political messages they convey, and to what extent do they serve as independent bases of social experience? How do individual differences and individual discretion mediate and deflect the impact of these alternative sources of political influence?