RELIGIOUS PREFERENCE AND WORLDLY SUCCESS

The relationship between religious preference and worldly success as currently found in metropolitan Detroit is analyzed. The data are derived from a series of personal interviews with probability samples of all greater Detroit adults. White and nonwhite adults are analyzed separately. An attempt is made to place all religious denominations on an "equal footing" with respect to those ascribed factors which are conducive to high economic achievement (the attainment of valued achieved status) in an urban environment. Actual achievement is then measured against the potential for this performance. The results offer some support for a contemporary interpretation of the Weberian thesis of the Protestant ethic, while presenting important modifications. Most Protestant denominations far exceed the Catholics in economic standing, and the various Protestant denominations are ranked in a general order which is in substantial agreement with expectations. Possible explanations for the high achievement of Jews and Detroiters of the Eastern Orthodox faith are presented. To what extent does the theory of the Protestant ethic apply to the population of a modern American metropolitan community? Previous research has pointed out some of the significant social and economic differences that exist among the major religious groupings in the United States.1 In this paper we are concerned primarily with the specific relationship between religious preference and worldly success. Dependence on the writings of Weber, Sombart, and Tawney is obvious.2 We fully appreciate the disservice paid to these scholars when their theories are applied directly to a mature industrial community. Nonetheless, the "Weberian controversy," as Lenski calls it,3 is an important concern of many social scientists who basically are