ATTITUDES TOWARD ABORTION AMONG UNITED-STATES CATHOLICS - ANOTHER CASE OF SYMBOLIC POLITICS

Objective. Although American's attitudes toward abortion have been a t opic of great interest for the last thirty years, their relationship t o processes involving symbolic politics has not been fully explored. T his paper focuses on that connection among Catholic parishioners. Meth ods. Survey data from a representative sample of registered parishione rs are used to examine hypothesized relationships. Although parish-con nected Catholics do tend to be slightly older and slightly more conser vative on some issues and are more likely to be female than Catholics in general, the sample is not composed of highly ''traditionalistic'' individuals. Findings reinforce the conclusion that Catholics who oppo se abortion are most likely to be shaped by both sexual and religious orientations, once other factors have been taken into account. These f indings are interpreted in the light of emerging theories of cultural politics. Results. Results from OLS analyses indicate that attitudes a bout the expression of sexuality, woman's autonomy, and religious orie ntation display the strongest net relationships to abortion attitudes. Conclusions. Findings reinforce the conclusion that Catholics who opp ose abortion are most likely to be shaped by both sexual and religious orientations, once other factors have been taken into account. These findings are interpreted in the light of emerging theories of cultural politics.