Religious brand loyalty and political loyalties

Numerous works have detailed the breakdown of brand loyalty within society over the last forty years and its results. Whether examining political loyalties, religious loyalties, or loyalties to brands such as Lucky Strike cigarettes, each study has noted a lowering of traditional barriers to switching brands and the creation of a nation of individualist choosers (Friedman 1990). Here I attempt to suggest some connections between religious and political loyalties. Using the 1993 General Social Survey. I operationalize religious loyalty in four ways and suggest three mechanisms through which religious loyalty is connected to political loyalty: psychological ties, social ties, and social circumstances. I find significant effects of different conceptions of religious loyalty encouraging party loyalties, steadfast voting, and loyalty to one party's presidential candidates across two elections.

[1]  P. Norris Does Television Erode Social Capital? A Reply to Putnam , 1996, PS: Political Science & Politics.

[2]  R. Stark,et al.  The Churching of America, 1776-2005: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy , 1993 .

[3]  Lyman A. Kellstedt,et al.  Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics , 1993 .

[4]  T. Jelen Political Christianity: A Contextual Analysis , 1992 .

[5]  D. E. Owen,et al.  Churches as Political Communities , 1988, American Political Science Review.

[6]  A. McCutcheon DENOMINATIONS AND RELIGIOUS INTERMARRIAGE: TRENDS AMONG WHITE AMERICANS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY' , 1988 .

[7]  W. C. Roof,et al.  American Mainline Religion: Its Changing Shape and Future , 1987 .

[8]  W. C. Roof,et al.  Religion for a Dislocated Generation , 1982 .

[9]  Frank Newport THE RELIGIOUS SWITCHER IN THE UNITED STATES , 1979 .

[10]  K. Andersen,et al.  The Creation of a Democratic Majority, 1928-1936 , 1979 .

[11]  R. Lauer Occupational and Religious Mobility in a Small City , 1975 .

[12]  J. Sundquist Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States , 1974 .

[13]  D. Kelley,et al.  Why Conservative Churches Are Growing , 1973 .

[14]  H. J. Crockett Change in Religious Affiliation and Family Stability: A Second Study. , 1969 .

[15]  R. Stark,et al.  American Piety: The Nature of Religious Commitment. , 1968 .

[16]  N. Babchuk,et al.  Change in Religious Affiliation and Family Stability , 1967 .

[17]  V. O. Key,et al.  A Theory of Critical Elections , 1955, The Journal of Politics.

[18]  John H. Aldrich Why parties? : the origin and transformation of political parties in America , 1995 .

[19]  P. Berger The Heretical Imperative: Contemporary Possibilities of Religious Affirmation , 1979 .

[20]  W. S. Hudson The great tradition of the American churches , 1963 .