SOCIAL VALUES, RELIGIOSITY, AND MARITAL CONTEXT

This study replicates and expands previous research on the effects of religious homogamy and heterogamy on social values among American married Catholics. Merton (1957) indicated the importance of significant others - as linking group norms and values - for those who would be influenced by a group. Interactional effects of religiosity and marital context upon Catholics' social values such as social justice (welfare expenditures), racial relations (black/white relations), sexual permissiveness (attitudes toward premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations), abortion (social and physical), and social tolerance (of printed material) are examined. Findings based on a Catholic sample from the NORC General Social Surveys confirm previous studies, i.e., that there is no difference between Catholics married to Catholics and Catholics married to non-Catholics regarding the relationship between religiosity and their social values.