Socioeconomic Status and Churches

Both of these churches can be found in Russellville, and not only that, but they can be found within a few city blocks of each other. The church on the right is the largest in town, taking up two full blocks, and has a predominantly wealthy congregation. The church below is one of the smaller churches in town, taking up about one-fourth of a block, and has a much less wealthy overall congregation. As you can see, the church on the right is much more pleasant to look at, as well as being much newer, and the church to the left is considerably less attractive. However, both of these churches serve the same purpose and are, figuratively speaking, "on the same team." This may cause the question of why such a large discrepancy exists between the two buildings. I believe that the answer to this lies in the concept of socioeconomic status (SES). The members of the larger church have more money that they are willing to put into making their house of worship look more presentable, while other churches cannot afford the same luxuries. The people that attend the larger church want more socializing and more amenities, are willing to spend this money so that they can say that they belong to a "superior" organization. This is just one example of many that provides insight to the fact that the desire to be of a higher social standing can be seen in places as simple as Houses of God.