Catholic Disaffiliation in Britain: A Quantitative Overview

This article presents a quantitative assessment of Catholic disaffiliates— those who were brought up Catholic, but who now no longer identify as such— in contemporary Britain. Using British Social Attitudes data, it seeks to: 1) gauge the overall extent of Catholic disaffiliation and its significanc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contemporary religion
Main Author: Bullivant, Stephen 1984- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Carfax Publ. [2016]
In: Journal of contemporary religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Great Britain / Catholic upbringing / Irreligiosity
Further subjects:B lapsation
B Secularisation
B Britain
B quantitative data
B retention
B Catholic disaffiliation
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Description
Summary:This article presents a quantitative assessment of Catholic disaffiliates— those who were brought up Catholic, but who now no longer identify as such— in contemporary Britain. Using British Social Attitudes data, it seeks to: 1) gauge the overall extent of Catholic disaffiliation and its significance relative to the retention/disaffiliation rates of other major Christian groupings; 2) identify patterns in the changing rates of Catholic retention/disaffiliation over the course of the twentieth century; 3) analyse Catholic disaffiliation in terms of key demographic variables (sex and age); 4) compare the current religious beliefs and prayer practices of different groups of Catholic disaffiliates and retainees. As will be argued throughout this article, in-depth study of Catholic disaffiliates sheds important new light on the sociology of Catholicism in modern Britain. Furthermore, it contributes to ongoing discussions of secularisation, precisely as a case study of change over time within a significant religious minority.
ISSN:1469-9419
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2016.1152664