Clergy as Political Elites

27 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2011

See all articles by Elizabeth Oldmixon

Elizabeth Oldmixon

University of North Texas - Department of Political Science

Brian Calfano

Missouri State University – Department of Political Science

Jane Suiter

Dublin City University - School of Communications

Date Written: August 29, 2011

Abstract

Clergy are political elites. This much is clear. However, direct evidence linking clergy behavior to political belief and action by religious publics has been elusive. This is actually not surprising given that clergy are often situated in complex institutional contexts with myriad group and interpersonal pressures to navigate on a regular basis. As the clergy politics literature moves away from reliance on the overly broad religious tradition framework, new opportunities to gain unprecedented insight on how previously under-emphasized causal factors and research methods may enhance our understanding of clergy as political elites become apparent. We use this paper to advance three familiar, but underutilized, tools to explain clergy political opinion formation. The first is application of the clergy professional fatigue literature to an inherently political outcome. The second is the use of experimental design in the study of clergy politics. The third is the location of our investigation among clergy in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Our results confirm findings from a growing trend of clergy scholarship that emphasizes the influence of personal and institutional factors beyond political preferences in explaining clergy political opinion.

Keywords: Religion, Clergy, Ireland

Suggested Citation

Oldmixon, Elizabeth and Calfano, Brian and Suiter, Jane, Clergy as Political Elites (August 29, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1919335 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1919335

Elizabeth Oldmixon (Contact Author)

University of North Texas - Department of Political Science ( email )

1155 Union Circle #305340
Denton, TX 76203
United States

Brian Calfano

Missouri State University – Department of Political Science ( email )

901 South National Avenue
Springfield, MO 65897
United States

Jane Suiter

Dublin City University - School of Communications ( email )

Dublin
Ireland

HOME PAGE: http://www.dcu.ie/info/staff_member.php?id_no=4637

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