Sociology of Religion Commons^™

Ruza Ilicic, Marija Maracic, Josipa Karaca

SICANJE

No abstract provided.

Mara Pavlovic, Marija Maracic, Josipa Karaca

SICANJE

No abstract provided.

Where Politics Meets Ritual: Changing Wedding Culture And The Mufti Marriage Debate In Turkey, Sevgi Adak

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The Underlying Effects Of Religion In Puerto Rico, Claudia A. Chardon

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore the role religion has played in the Puerto Rican society. Growing up in this culture entails a deep and implicit connection with the religious world. Religious values, beliefs, and attitudes are firmly entrenched and amplified through the family, culture, and schools. Because it is so deeply entrenched, it is difficult to find a place to leverage a critique of its impact. Thus, in order to understand the societal matters and challenges the island faces, an in-depth study that explores the beliefs, attitudes, and behavior of Puerto Ricans is necessary.

Individuals’ Experiences With Religious Hostility, Discrimination, And Violence: Findings From A New National Survey, Christopher P. Scheitle, Elaine Howard Ecklund

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

While concerns about the consequences of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of religious bias have grown in the past several years, the data available to examine these issues have been limited. This study utilizes new data from a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults featuring oversamples of key religious minority groups and an instrument dedicated to measuring the extent to which individuals experience hostility, discrimination, and violence due to their religion. Findings show that, while a sizable minority of Christian adults report such experiences, a much greater share of Muslim and Jewish adults report experiences with interpersonal hostility, organizational discrimination, …

Religion And Spirituality In Social Work, Caleb Mccoy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper reviews 15 different articles discussing the current state of religion and spirituality (RS) in the social work (SW) field. The 15 articles cover various topics in both SW education and practice. Social workers’ as well as clients’ feelings towards the incorporation of RS into SW practice are presented. Ethical standards regarding the treatment of RS in SW practice is discussed. Finally, a review of the effectiveness of treatments utilizing RS is presented. It was found that there is a lack of education to properly train social workers to incorporate RS into their daily practice. There is also a …

Post-Supernatural Cultures: There And Back Again, Wesley J. Wildman, F. Leron Shults, Saikou Y. Diallo, Ross Gore, Justin Lane

VMASC Publications

The abandonment of supernatural religious beliefs and rituals seems to occur quite easily in some contexts, but post-supernaturalist cultures require a specific set of conditions that are difficult to produce and sustain on a large scale and thus are historically rare. Despite the worldwide resurgence of supernaturalist religion, some subcultures reliably produce people who deny the existence of supernatural entities. This social phenomenon has evoked competing explanations, many of which enjoy empirical support. We synthesize six of the most influential social-science explanations, demonstrating that they provide complementary perspectives on a complex causal architecture. We incorporate this theoretical synthesis into a …

An Exploratory Study Of The Relationship Between Religiosity And Internalized Heterosexism In Same-Sex Attracted Individuals, Lauren Knight

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This correlational study was designed to evaluate the relationship between religiosity and internalized heterosexism among lesbian, bisexual, and gay (LGB) individuals. Religiosity was examined in terms of positive religious coping (PRC), redefining stressors as a positive spiritual opportunity, or negative religious coping (NRC), defining stressors as a negative struggle between the individual and a Higher Power. The researcher hypothesized that, as seen in previous studies, use of negative religious coping methods would correlate with internalized heterosexism, and that use of positive religious coping methods would significantly correlate with lower internalized heterosexism. Data analysis of participants (N=162) illustrated significant Pearson’s product-moment …

Biography And Sociology: Berger On Religion As Choice Rather Than Fate, Samuel Heilman

Publications and Research

Is there a connection between biography and sociology for Peter Berger? The short answer, as demonstrated by his own memoir, Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist, is “yes.” But in his book, he traces this connection to his own arrival and training at the Graduate Faculty of the New School. I would like to suggest that the process begins earlier in his life. Known for his work on the sociology of knowledge, the examination of how “society influences thought,” I suggest an examination of how one’s biography influences thought, the environment in which Berger grew played a major role in his …

It’S Not Just Sunday School: Young Children, Race/Ethnicity, And Gender In Three Homogeneous Protestant Sunday Schools, Henry James Zonio

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

Current sociological approaches to examining the lives of children approach children as active agents and participants in their socialization. Further, children are considered experts witnesses and interpreters of their own experiences. In the cases of race and gender socialization, interpretive reproduction has been used as a framework to examine how children construct and act on meanings of race and gender. While these interpretive studies illuminate how children interpret and reproduce meanings of race and gender, they do not explicate how children appropriate meanings from their cultural milieu. Consequently, these studies do not consider ways the larger culture enables and constrains …

Examining Public Opinion About Abortion: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review Of Research Over The Last 15 Years, Amy Adamczyk, Chunrye Kim, Leevia Dillon

Publications and Research

Although abortion became legal four decades ago, Americans remain staunchly divided over its acceptability. While researchers have been interested in the factors shaping abortion attitudes, there are almost no reviews of this work. We examine the factors shaping Americans’ abortion attitudes and assess the state of published peer-reviewed articles in this area over the last 15 years. Using a mixed-methods systematic review, we analyze and critique the findings from 116 journal articles that have examined attitudes about abortion between 2001 and 2016. Amongst the many predictors and outcomes examined, we show that religion is by far the most utilized statistically …

The Experiences Of Western Australian Muslims Within The Current Political And Social Environment, John Lehane

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this research was to examine the experiences of Western Australian (WA) Muslims, within the context of the current Australian political and social climate, with a key focus on how political and social factors, and the vast introduction of Australian antiterrorism legislation, may impact them. Also explored in this inquiry, was how mainstream media and their regular portrayal of Islamic-inspired terrorist attacks, which has at times connected all Muslims to these atrocities, is creating a social division within the Australian community which is difficult to overcome.

A generic qualitative methodology was utilised to best capture the lived experiences …

Young People And The Baptist Church: Staying And Leaving, Timothy Mullen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to understand and compare the young people’s experiences of the church between those who attended church at the time of the study, and those who were no longer attending church at the time of the study. The study was conducted to understand more about the experiences that lead young people to leave the church, and the experiences that motivate young people to stay. A literature review, and a phenomenological study was conducted into this experience. 15 young people aged 19 – 29 were interviewed using openended questions. It was found through the literature review …