Educational "Preference" of German Protestants and Catholics: The Politics behind Educational Specialization
Offenbacher's statistical study (1901) comparing the school enrollment of German Protestants to Catholics plays an important part in support of the claim that Protestants historically have been more favorably disposed to modernity. This study found that Protestants surpassed Catholics in enroll...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer
2000
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| In: |
Review of religious research
Year: 2000, Volume: 41, Issue: 3, Pages: 311-327 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Offenbacher's statistical study (1901) comparing the school enrollment of German Protestants to Catholics plays an important part in support of the claim that Protestants historically have been more favorably disposed to modernity. This study found that Protestants surpassed Catholics in enrollment at the various types of secondary schools, and particularly at those institutions emphasizing science, mathematics, and other "practical" subjects. Weber and Merton interpret Offenbacher's findings as a statistical demonstration of a Protestant proclivity for capitalist enterprise and scientific endeavor respectively. This paper challenges Weber's and Merton's idealist interpretations by reference to the Kulturkampf, a religious-political confrontation of the 1870s and 80s between Protestants and Catholics that produced striking denominational differences in employment opportunities in theology. Given the differences in vocational specialization that marked the various German schools, these differences in opportunities are found to have played a decisive part in producing the denominational differences in school enrollments reported in Offenbacher's study. |
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| ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3512032 |