A SILENT BATTLE: THEORIZING THE EFFECTS OF COMPETITION BETWEEN CHURCHES AND SECULAR INSTITUTIONS
This paper proposes a theory of religious and secular competition, focusing specifically on western democracies. The article shows that a wide variety of empirically observed phenomena can be explained as aggregated outcomes of individual rational adaptations to different states of competition betwe...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publications
2010
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| In: |
Review of religious research
Year: 2010, Volume: 51, Issue: 3, Pages: 253-276 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | This paper proposes a theory of religious and secular competition, focusing specifically on western democracies. The article shows that a wide variety of empirically observed phenomena can be explained as aggregated outcomes of individual rational adaptations to different states of competition between religious and secular institutions. The theory presented builds on a new typology of church goods, the concept of "social production functions," and the distinction of two types of competition between the religious and the secular. Among the examples that are accounted for by the theory are shortages of priests, waves of disaffiliations, drops in church attendance even of committed members, high religiosity in the USA and in agrarian countries and others. I conclude with methodological suggestions for future empirical research. |
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| ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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