Contextualizing the Religious Survey: Possibilities and Limitations
Censuses and surveys represent a two-edged sword. They are both a technology of governance for national and former colonial administrations and a tool of recognition for the minoritized. In this article, I discuss the history of censuses and surveys in a Danish context, arguing that the regional and...
| Published in: | Religion and society |
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| Subtitles: | "Symposium: Engaging Religion" |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Berghahn
2022
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| In: |
Religion and society
Year: 2022, Volume: 13, Issue: 1, Pages: 151-163 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Censuses and surveys represent a two-edged sword. They are both a technology of governance for national and former colonial administrations and a tool of recognition for the minoritized. In this article, I discuss the history of censuses and surveys in a Danish context, arguing that the regional and local history of registration is crucial for understanding how and why religious identity becomes visible and important as a measure for the population. Applying the case of a national survey on religiosity in relation to the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2020, I ask how religion comes alive through the strategic use of artificial ideal types aimed at mapping a religious mainstream. Surveys introduce a distance to messy religious reality, thereby reducing complexity and richness. Yet this distance also allows the researcher to ask new questions that go beyond the immediate religious experience. |
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| ISSN: | 2150-9301 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion and society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3167/arrs.2022.130110 |