Few to Speak for, but Good for Culture War: The Visibility of Religion Talk in the Finnish Parliament, 2010–2020
Recent research into the sociology of religion suggests a dual dynamic in the Nordic countries, and Finland is no exception: On the one hand, individual-level religiosity is declining; on the other, religion is increasingly visible in the public sphere. This article examines the latter claim with re...
| Authors: | ; |
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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: |
Universitetsforlaget
2024
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| In: |
Nordic journal of religion and society
Year: 2024, Volume: 37, Issue: 1, Pages: 4-18 |
| Further subjects: | B
Finland
B Populism B Religion B Politics B Parliament |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Recent research into the sociology of religion suggests a dual dynamic in the Nordic countries, and Finland is no exception: On the one hand, individual-level religiosity is declining; on the other, religion is increasingly visible in the public sphere. This article examines the latter claim with regard to Finnish parliamentary politics between 2010 and 2020. What do members of parliament talk about when they talk about religion? Who talks about what, and what does this say about Finnish party politics in the twenty-first century? The analysis applies a combination of automated natural language processing and qualitative content analysis to a comprehensive corpus of parliamentary transcripts from 2010 to 2020. We find that, overall, references to religion are rare, but also that this "religion talk" becomes more common in divisive value- and identity-related topics - or "culture wars." While established mainstream parties rarely reference religion, Christian-identifying, and far-right populist parties use religion talk more frequently. This, we argue, demonstrates the political expedience of religion talk and the importance of identity-driven parties in making religion visible in the political sphere. In addition, the article demonstrates the methodological value of automated corpus analysis in the study of parliamentary debates and similar large data sets in the sociology of religion. |
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| ISSN: | 1890-7008 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nordic journal of religion and society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18261/njrs.37.1.1 |