Deifying College: How Does Religion Dignify Those Who Face Secular Inequities?

Economic inequality in the United States has left behind those without four-year college degrees. But has it cost them their dignity? Restoring dignity may depend upon other sociocultural factors that fundamentally influence how individuals valorize or sanctify their own lives. We ask whether religion – in terms of distinct facets of relationships with God – might be able to help offset some of the dignity lost to flagging material or social prosperity. We draw on national data collected by Gallup in 2017 from the United States. Regression results reveal that those without a four-year college degree trail considerably in perceived life dignity compared to those who have attained one. While this association is troubling, less clear is how individuals cope. Our findings show that accountability to God and secure attachment to God both essentially level the gap in perceived dignity between four-year college graduates and the less educated. Given these intriguing and strong results, we suggest that dignity may be constructed powerfully at the interface of the material and spiritual institutions, what we term “deifying college.”