Science, Individualism, and Attitudes Toward Deviance: The Influence of Modernization and Rationalization

Abstract

Sociologists have long been interested in determinants of deviant behavior. Multiple researchers have concluded that attitudes toward deviance are good predictors of deviant behavior. However, little research has focused on the causes of these attitudes. This research offers an explanation and empirical test of potential causes of tolerant attitudes toward deviant behavior. We hypothesize that a secular worldview and individualism lead to an increased tolerance of deviance. Using 1998 GSS data, results offer support for the hypotheses. These results hold true even when controlling for religiosity and other factors known to be related to deviant behavior.

Notes

Key: A = Age, M = Minority, F = Female, E = Education, I = Income, P = Population, PV = Conservative Political Views, R = South, FCA = Frequency of Church Attendance, LM = Legalization of Marijuana, TBC = Teen Birth Control, TS = Teen Sex, PS = Premarital Sex, ES = Extramarital Sex, H = Homosexuality, TD = Tolerance of Deviance, SWV = Secular Worldviews, IND = Individualism. ∗p < .05; ∗∗p < .01.

¹The correlations are presented in Table 2.

²For the variable region of residence, codes for South Atlantic, East South Central, and West South Central are recoded as 1 (South) and all other regions are recoded as 0 (Not South). We chose to compare the South to all other regions as the South reports higher levels of religiosity and those with higher levels of religiosity have lower tolerance of deviance.

∗∗p < .01; ∗∗∗p < .001. Standard Error in parenthesis.

³White's test for heteroskedasticity indicated that heteroskedasticity was not evident in the model (White's χ² = 11.79; p < .05). Moreover, the error terms were normally distributed and multicolinearity was not present (i.e., none of the variance inflation factors exceeded 1.49).

⁴ GSS data provides evidence that “religiosity” increased in the 1980s. The average percentage of respondents who said their religious beliefs were either “strong” or “somewhat strong” increased from 47.4% in the period 1974–1980 to 50.6% in the period from 1981–1990. This percentage then decreased to 48.9% in the period 1991–2004. These changes are statistically significant (χ² = 22.52; p < .001).