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Does Social Status Determine U.S. Catholics’ Opinions on Controversial Subjects?

Does Social Status Determine U.S. Catholics’ Opinions on Controversial Subjects?. Mark Mosconi. National Survey Data Opinion Polling. Dependent Variables: Gender Income Level. Independent Variables: Level of Agreement

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Does Social Status Determine U.S. Catholics’ Opinions on Controversial Subjects?

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  1. Does Social Status Determine U.S. Catholics’ Opinions on Controversial Subjects? Mark Mosconi National Survey Data Opinion Polling Dependent Variables: Gender Income Level Independent Variables: Level of Agreement That American Bishops are doing a good job leading the U.S. Church. That stem cell research that entails destruction of human embryos is morally wrong? That abortion should be legal in the United States?

  2. Literature Review Hertel, Bradley R. et al. (1999) “Examining the Absence of a Gender Effect on Abortion Attitudes: Is There Really No Difference?” Sociological Inquiry; Summer99, Vol. 69 Issue 3, p364-381. To the limited extent that there is any gender effect, men are slightly more inclined than women to be prochoice. Women, however, have been found to regard the issue as more important. Hussey, Laura S (2011) “Is Welfare Pro-life? Assistance Programs, Abortion, and the Moderating Role of States” Social Service Review: SocINDEX 2011. Analyses suggest that welfare recipients are substantially less likely to turn to abortion than are comparable lowincome pregnant women. In other words, less income but support from the state translates to lower abortion rates. Nisbet, Matthew C. (2004) “The Polls--Trends: Public Opinion About Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning.” Public Opinion Quarterly; Spring2004, Vol. 68 Issue 1, p131-154 SocINDEX. In July 2001, 54 percent of respondents agreed that embryonic stem cell research was morally wrong, but among those same respondents said that although the research may be morally wrong, it might also still be necessary. Nibset, Matthew C. (2005) “The Competition For Worldviews: Values, Information, and Public Support For Stem Cell Research” International Journal of Public Opinion Research: Vol. 17, Issue 1. Previous studies show that women on average hold greater reservations about science, technology, and genetic engineering than men. Outka, Gene (2009) "The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research and the Principle of "Nothing is Lost"," Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics: Vol. 9: Iss. 3, Article 7. Outkaaddresses the importance of intentions for American Catholics in their opinions of stem cell research. Identifying the distinction between creation for research and employment for research was also included. Moral implications center around the embryo.

  3. Works Cited Franklin, Charles H. and Liane C. Kosaki (1989) “Republican Schoolmaster: The U.S. Supreme Court, Public Opinion, and Abortion” The American Political Science Review Vol. 83, No. 3 (Sep., 1989), pp. 751-771. Hertel, Bradley R. et al. (1999) “Examining the Absence of a Gender Effect on Abortion Attitudes: Is There Really No Difference?” Sociological Inquiry; Summer99, Vol. 69 Issue 3, p364-381. Hussey, Laura S (2011) “Is Welfare Pro-life? Assistance Programs, Abortion, and the Moderating Role of States” Social Service Review: SocINDEX 2011. Nibset, Matthew C. (2005) “The Competition For Worldviews: Values, Information, and Public Support For Stem Cell Research” International Journal of Public Opinion Research: vol. 17, no. 1. Nisbet, Matthew C. (2004) “The Polls--Trends: Public Opinion About Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning.” Public Opinion Quarterly; Spring2004, Vol. 68 Issue 1, p131-154 SocINDEX. Norrander, Barbara and Clyde Wilcox (1999) “Public Opinion and Policymaking in the States: The Case of Post-Roe Abortion Policy.” Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 27, No. 4,1999 (707-722). Outka, Gene (2009) "The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research and the Principle of "Nothing is Lost"," Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics: Vol. 9: Iss. 3, Article 7.

  4. Data Sources Used • National Survey Data Opinion Polling: American Catholics and Welfare CCT Survey (featured in Lab 2). Three Selected Independent Variables Raw Data

  5. Data Analysis Step 1: Select chosen variables and highlight them according to their columns. Step 2: Highlight all data in upper left-hand corner and insert pivot table (in new sheet) to analyze variables. Delete “5s”, “Blanks”, label 1-4 as level of agr. First: relate income to the level of agreement that stem cell research is morally wrong. Then, repeat this for (1) the opinion that American bishops are doing a good job leading the U.S. Church and (2) that abortion should be legal in the U.S. % of Row Total. Step 3: Insert 2D Column for the first pivot table (pictured).

  6. Step 4: Insert 2D Lines for the other two pivot tables and label the sheet “Income’. Step 5: Repeat pivot table exercise in a new sheet. Step 6: Insert 2D Line Chart and insert a title, axis labels, and data labels. Step 7: Repeat Step 6 for Opinion of American Bishops and Abortion. Step 8: Label this sheet “Gender”. Step 9: If printing, select Page Break Preview and arrange data to fit cleanly.

  7. Findings • As for my research question, which was- does social status determine U.S. Catholics' opinions on controversial subjects?- my assumptions were such that the more income one makes, the more he or she will be pro-choice. • For gender: more women than men will favor abortion and stem cell research. • I included the subjects’ opinions of American Bishops as an indicator of satisfaction so that I could gauge between men, women, rich, and poor. It was also to test that the respondents were not biased. • Results: For the belief that abortion should be legal, most people strongly disagreed. However, this number decreased with increasing income. Similarly, while the amount of people who strongly agreed was low, it did elevate as income level also increased.

  8. The same correlation repeated for opinions on stem cell research. • As for gender, there was a higher percentage of men than women who strongly opposed abortion. So, this goes hand in hand with Bradley Hertel’s article, “Examining the Absence of a Gender Effect on Abortion Attitudes: Is There Really No Difference?”, which concluded that men are more inclined to be pro-choice. • Additionally, on the other opinion, that of strongly agreeing that abortion should be legal, more women than men fell in this range. • For my purposes, it should be noted that there was no significant skewed data for the opinions on American Bishops. This means that my subjects were not biased in any way.

  9. The differences in percentages were not extreme, but they did support my hypotheses from the beginning.

  10. The End

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