Socioeconomic Differentials among White Socioreligious Groups in the United States

This research addresses the recent claim that Catholics have now replaced traditionally high-status Protestant groups in the national income elite. Evidence from the NORC General Social Surveys fails to support the claim; rather it is found that in income—as in education and occupation-high-status Protestants continue to rank above Catholics. Despite significant gains for Catholics over the past two decades, and thus reduced Protestant—Catholic differentials in status, still the relative rankings of these groups differ very little today from that observed in earlier times.