Explaining the Relationship between Religiosity and Political Participation: The Mediating Roles of Transcendent Accountability and Religiopolitical Awareness

Prior research tends to find a positive relationship between religiosity and political participation. Explanations of this relationship have focused mostly on religiosity-generated organizational resources (e.g., civic skills), while paying less attention to psychological resources. We simultaneousl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion
Authors: Jang, Sung Joon (Author) ; Brown, Brandon M. (Author) ; Witvliet, Charlotte V. O. (Author) ; Leman, Joseph (Author) ; Johnson, Byron R. 1955- (Author) ; Bradshaw, Matt (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2023
In: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2023, Volume: 62, Issue: 3, Pages: 549-579
Further subjects:B Political Participation
B Spirituality
B transcendent accountability
B Structural Equation Modeling
B religiopolitical awareness
B Religiosity
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Summary:Prior research tends to find a positive relationship between religiosity and political participation. Explanations of this relationship have focused mostly on religiosity-generated organizational resources (e.g., civic skills), while paying less attention to psychological resources. We simultaneously examined different aspects of religiosity (belief, behavior, and belonging) and political participation (electoral and nonelectoral) in a structural equation model with two psychological resources as mediators: (1) “transcendent accountability”—seeing oneself as responsible to God or a higher power for one's impact on other people and the environment, and (2) “religiopolitical awareness”—perceiving the influence of one's religion and/or spirituality on one's political views and activities. Results from analyzing survey data from a US representative sample showed that transcendent accountability and religiopolitical awareness, whether together or awareness only, mediated positive relationships between religiosity (belief, private and public behaviors, and membership) and political participation (voting and other political activity), highlighting key psychological motivators of political participation.
ISSN:1468-5906
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12843