Religious Orthodoxy and Minority Prejudice: Causal Relationship or Reflection of Localistic World View?

Abstract

This study examines the relationship of religious orthodoxy to prejudice against minorities using a world-view perspective. Instead of regarding the two as causally relate, I argue that both religious belief and intolerance toward minorities are reflections of a localistic world view formed by individuals with limited social perspectives. Data from a North Carolina survey sample support this explanantion, showing that the orthodoxy-prejudice relationship is partially spurious when localism is controlled and that a portion of the influence of education upon prejudice is also expressed indirectly through localism as an intervening orientation. These findings, based upon a causal analysis of anti-Semitic, anti-black, and anti-Catholic attitudes, sugest the need for further attention to "breadth of perspective" as a factor in theories concerning prejudice.