People dressing formally at church is correlated to...what exactly?

[DC Al Fine]

I guess one of the reasons church attendance is so low in societies with a high percentage of white collar workers is because they have to look their best every morning when they go to work and what the church offered them as members of the community simply doesn't have the same appeal anymore.  

Not sure about white vs blue collar, but IIRC religious participation tends to increase somewhat with income, all else equal.

[DC Al Fine]

It's strange, noticing all this. I'm inclined to think I do now because mass at college is so much more... restrained. I think it has to do with the sort of college student who attends mass, particularly at a school like mine, which would lend itself to a more liturgically conservative environment.

That's exactly it. You're usually quite committed if you attend university services. Your standard parish church has far more casual Catholics.