Date of Award
12-1-2012
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Sherkat, Darren
Abstract
The role of religion in status attainment process of native born American population has received adequate scholarly attention. However, not much is known about the religion-stratification link for US immigrants. Using the New Immigrant Survey (NIS) 2003, this dissertation examines the role of religious orientations and spiritual commitments on status attainment measures such as education, employment, and income among recent US immigrants. NIS is a nationally representative sample of recent US immigrants who receive permanent residency in year 2003. Results showed that immigrants' mobility patterns vary significantly by religious factors. Over all, findings of this dissertation supported hypotheses based on religious schemata and religious capital theory. Religious conservatism and higher pre-migration religious attendance were significant predictors of lower attainments. In contrast, the effects of post-migration religious attendance and church membership were found to negligible for the most part. Some gender differences were also noteworthy. Surprisingly, religious effects for men's attainment outcomes were more pronounced than women's. The limitations and the future directions for research in this area have also been discussed.
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