Female clergy are more likely than mate clergy to serve small, rural churches in declining communities, yet they express a high level of satisfaction with the.ir work, often higher than that ,of male clergy. Why are female clergy relatively happ,y with their jobs in spite of poor work conditions?Studies of other occupations have consistently found that while wornen's u~rk amditions ana rewards ate inferior to those of men in comparable positions ( a situation which should reduce satisfaction), women report being as satisfied of more satisfied with their work (F~ and Greenfield ). This discrelxm~ is caUed the " gender paradox" in work satisfaction.The purpose of this study/s to address female c/ergy's reporta of higher satisfaction, using the tire main explanations of the paradox which have been identif~ed and tested ( Phelan 1994; MueUer and Wa//ar.e 1996); the emphas/s is on arguments that involve justice perceptions. Beyond the effects of justice perceptions on satis… gender difference in justice perceptions ate of interest in and of themselves, since sources o… gender inequality ate not likely to be corrected as lmtg as men and women evaluate those ineclualities as just and fair (Marx [184811964; Smelser 1962). A comprehensive model of sources of satisfaction will be used~as previous,studies ( MueUer and WaUace 1996) have found that using a properly specified model may eliminate much of the paradox for job satisfact/on. The dato come from a 1996 national survey of pastors in two Protestant denominations, and show that a gender paradox does exist for clergy job satisŸ While justice perceptions playa highly significant tole in explaining job satisfaction, they rail to eliminate the gender paradox. A finding which contradicts Iyrevious studies is evidence of differerw, s in job values for male and female clergy, h is suggested that future studies include variables that assess the impormnce of gender-specific job vahes in producing job satisfaction.Downloaded from 2 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION happy with their jobs in spite of poor work conditions? Studies of other occupations have consistently found that while women's work conditions and rewards are inferior to those of men in comparable positions (a situation which should reduce satisfaction), women report being as satisfied or more satisfied with their work than men (Fry

This project was designed to assess whether a collaborative learning approach to teaching sociological theory would be a successful means of improving student engagement in learning theory and of increasing both the depth of students' understanding of theoretical arguments and concepts and the ability of students to theorize for themselves. A comparison of students' comments, reflections, and evaluations in the traditional and collaborative learning classes showed a substantial increase in student engagement and interest in social theory in the collaborative learning class, and an analysis of students' applied and reflective papers showed improvement in understanding of theoretical concepts and ability to apply theory to social issues and problems.

Clergy are sometimes matched with congregations that are not as liberal or conservative as they are. We develop two arguments that predict different effects of clergy-congregation mismatches in theological conservatism/liberalism on clergy job satisfaction. One argument predicts no effect of a mismatch on job satisfaction because clergy have been socialized to expect challenges and frustrations in their ministry. The other argument predicts a reduction in clergy job satisfaction because of the clergy-congregation conflict produced by the theology mismatch. National data (N = 2,467) from two Protestant denominations are used to test these two hypotheses. We find support for the conflict argument: theology mismatches do produce clergy job dissatisfaction, net of numerous other factors. However, this happens only when the minister is more liberal (not more conservative) than the congregation. Additional analysis also showed that these mismatched clergy are more likely to intend to leave their current churches.Clergy are often stereotyped by the general public as being satisfied with their jobs because they have self-selected into the ministry and presumably are following their calling. It is assumed that "low material wants and expectations, as it were, 'go with the job,' and entrance to the clergy is conditional upon their accepting them" (Rose 1999). Some studies (Dittes 1970; Smith 1973;Rediger 1997), however, suggest that clergy job satisfaction is not always high, and there is evidence that less satisfied clergy feel morally constrained to understate their dissatisfaction (Rose 1999). In addition, for clergy, like for employees in other occupations and professions, the level of job satisfaction varies with work conditions such as pay and benefits, autonomy and decisionmaking opportunities, and professional growth opportunities (McDuff 1998). Our objective is to continue to examine the factors that influence clergy job satisfaction, but to change the focus to the inconsistencies or "mismatches" clergy often confront when employed by a local church. Specifically, we want to know if minister-congregation "mismatches" in degree of theological conservatism or liberalism have an affect on clergy job satisfaction. 1 We identify two arguments for different effects of mismatches: "a conflict" hypothesis and a "challenge" or "professional expectation" hypothesis. The first argument suggests that mismatches of liberal ministers with conservative congregations or conservative ministers with liberal congregations will produce conflict that will in turn reduce clergy job satisfaction. A minister will find a theology mismatch to be intellectually and emotionally draining, which in turn will produce lower job satisfaction. The second argument predicts little, or no, effect from a mismatch. Clergy, almost by definition, represent a profession in which there are continual challenges that they have been trained (and have learned) to recognize and address. Experiencing a mismatch in minister-congregation theology will not reduc...

Attachment to one's employer is not the same as attachment to one's occupation (profession), but little theory or research exist to explain why the two are different. The authors integrate arguments about market viability of occupational labor markets from Bridges and Villemez and arguments about professional values from Wallace in offering the hypothesis that attachment to one's employer is based primarily on economic rationality, whereas attachment to one's occupation (profession) is determined more by adherence to a service calling associated with that occupation. Data from a national sample of 2,435 clergy in two Protestant denominations having an open labor market structure support this hypothesis.