Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Religion, a Bridge or Barrier in Society?

A research design for empirical analyses about the role of religiosity in social cohesion

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Religiosity in East and West

Abstract

Polarization and civil wars across the globe lead to a scientific resurgence of the timeless question of what holds societies together. To stimulate further empirical research about the role of religion in social cohesion from a global perspective, I develop a research design as a blueprint for subsequent studies. I examine the question of how the role of citizens’ religiosity in social cohesion can be empirically analyzed for countries worldwide. Social cohesion is understood as a multidimensional construct that manifests itself in socio-political relationships among citizens (horizontal level) and between citizens and the state (vertical level). The core dimensions include social/institutional trust, inclusive social/national identification, social/institutional responsibility and social/political engagement. Religiosity is conceptualized with three dimensions: believing (intensity/contents of faith), behaving (prayer/service attendance/involvement in religious organizations) and belonging (religious affiliation). I systematize the variables’ relationships in hypotheses and present Multilevel Analysis (MLA) as a suitable method for their empirical testing. MLA allows for global comparative studies, considering the underlying hierarchical data structure of individuals embedded in diverse societal and religious country contexts, which themselves may exert (direct/cross-level interaction) effects. Finally, I exemplarily operationalize the variables, including controls on both levels, using appropriate databases (World Values Survey, Fox’s State and Religion Project, etc.). This is intended to prepare theory-led empirical research in a field of high socio-political relevance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    For complementing the framework with country- or culture-specific aspects in following studies, I suggest to dig deeper into indigenous sources from the respective contexts (see Bertelsmann Stiftung 2018 and Delhey et al. 2018 for Asia; Langer et al. 2017 and Hino et al. 2019 for Sub-Sahara-Africa; CEPAL 2010 and Manrique et al. 2015 for Latin America). Since the term social cohesion originated in the West, was introduced and disseminated by organizations such as the OECD, EU or World Bank (Delhey and Boehnke 2018, p. 36), further research would benefit from identifying similar, indigenous concepts, e.g., social harmony in Confucianism, Buen Vivir in Latin America or Ubuntu in Southern Africa.

  2. 2.

    Additional aggregation at the country level can still be done in further studies which, for instance, aim to compare the cohesion levels of countries or relate them to other macro variables.

  3. 3.

    All dimensions conceptualized in this chapter are to be understood as theoretical ideal types that are analytically distinguishable, while in reality the boundaries often blur. I do not claim to cover the complex phenomena in their entirety with these dimensions or to give universal definitions (which lies beyond this chapter’s scope).

  4. 4.

    From Glock and Stark’s (1968) classical five religious dimensions (ideological, ritualistic, intellectual, religious experience and consequences), I exclude the dimension of knowledge (because it does not necessarily indicate the depth of personal religiosity) and of ethical behaviors (because I analyze parts of them on the side of my dependent variable and investigate to what extent they are related to religiosity), and I add Boos-Nünning’s (1972) dimension of belonging (Pollack and Rosta 2017, p. 46 f.).

  5. 5.

    When applying the framework presented here in subsequent studies, I propose to calculate models separately for each cohesion subdimension in order to obtain differentiated results – and additionally for a cohesion index as an overview. In the following hypotheses, for reasons of space and readability, I no longer list the subdimensions individually, but the summarizing term ‘dimensions of social cohesion’ implies this differentiated proceeding.

  6. 6.

    In further studies, the religious context effects could be specifically theorized and examined in detail. They have gained little attention in cohesion research so far. This is, especially concerning state-religion-relations, due to a lack of adequate data, that has only recently been developed (Traunmüller 2012b). Previous results remain limited and ambivalent: For the European context, Pickel and Gladkich (2011) find positive correlations of secularization (aggregated service attendance) with social networks – and of Protestantism with social networks and social trust. Traunmüller (2012a) identifies a negative effect of secularization (aggregated importance of religion) on social networks – and a positive one of Protestantism on social trust. According to Schnabel and Grötsch (2012, 2014), a close state-religion relation and Protestantism increase societal trust. For Asian countries, Dragolov et al. (2018) state that religious diversity (Alesina et al. 2003) is positively related to the dimension of fairness perception (controlled for GDP) and to the cohesion index (under GDP control the effect turns insignificant).

  7. 7.

    There is no fixed convention on a minimum number of cases. Hox (2010, p. 235) gives the 30/30 rule (30 individuals/30 groups) – with modifications depending on the research foci, for example 50/20 when there is a strong interest in cross-level interactions and 100/10 when there is a strong interest in the random part. In research practice, however, MLAs are carried out even with smaller numbers (of about 20 or 30, e.g., for certain EU/OECD countries) (Schnabel and Grötsch 2012, 2014; Traunmüller 2012a).

  8. 8.

    Since the fractionalization indices of Alesina et al. (2003) are limited (especially to the year of 2003), other measures should be explored in subsequent studies – for ethnic diversity see, for example, the Historical Index of Ethnic Fractionalization (Drazanova 2019) and for religious diversity see the discussions in Pollack et al. (2012).

References

  • Alesina, A., Devleeschauwer, A., Easterly, W., Kurlat, S., & Wacziarg, R. (2003). Fractionalization. Journal of Economic Growth, 8(2), 155–194. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024471506938.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basedau, M., Gobien, S. &, Prediger, S. (2017). The ambivalent role of religion for sustainable development: A review of the empirical evidence. https://www.giga-hamburg.de/de/system/files/publications/wp297_basedau-gobien-prediger.pdf. Accessed: 4 Jan 2020.

  • Berggren, N., & Bjørnskov, C. (2011). Is the importance of religion in daily life related to social trust? Cross-country and cross-state comparisons. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 80(3), 459–480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2011.05.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boos-Nünning, U. (1972). Dimensionen der Religiosität: Zur Operationalisierung und Messung religiöser Einstellungen. München: Kaiser.

    Google Scholar 

  • CEPAL (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe). (2010). Cohesión social en América Latina y el Caribe: Una revisión de conceptos, marcos de referencia e indicadores (LC/G.2420). Santiago de Chile: CEPAL. https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/2978/1/S2010800_es.pdf. Accessed: 3 Apr 2020.

  • Chan, J., To, H., & Chan, E. (2006). Reconsidering social cohesion: Developing a definition and analytical framework for empirical research. Social Indicators Research, 75(2), 273–302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-2118-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, J. S. (1990). Foundations of social theory. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delhey, J., & Boehnke, K. (2018). Conceptualizing social cohesion in Asia. In B. Stiftung (Ed.), What holds asian societies together? Insights from the cohesion radar (pp. 29–49). Gütersloh: Verl. Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delhey, J., Boehnke, K., Dragolov, G., Ignácz, Z. S., Larsen, M., Lorenz, J., & Koch, M. (2018). Social cohesion and its correlates: A comparison of western and Asian societies. Comparative Sociology, 17(3–4), 426–455. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691330-12341468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickes, P., Valentova, M., & Borsenberger, M. (2010). Construct validation and application of common measure of social cohesion in 33 European countries. Social Indicators Research, 98(3), 451–473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9551-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dragolov, G., Ignácz, Z. S., Lorenz, J., Delhey, J., & Boehnke, K. (2013). Radar gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt: Messen was verbindet: Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt im internationalen Vergleich. Gütersloh: Verl. Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dragolov, G., Ignácz, Z. S., Lorenz, J., Delhey, J., Boehnke, K., & Unzicker, K. (2016). Social cohesion in the western world: What holds societies together: Insights from the social cohesion radar. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dragolov, G., Koch, M., & Larsen, M. (2018). Macro-level determinants and outcomes of social cohesion in Asia. In B. Stiftung (Ed.), What holds asian societies together? Insights from the social cohesion radar (pp. 97–135). Gütersloh: Verl. Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drazanova, L. (2019). Historical Index of Ethnic Fractionalization Dataset (HIEF). https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/4JQRCL. Accessed: 3 Apr 2020.

  • Durkheim, É. (2007) [1912]. Die elementaren Formen des religiösen Lebens. Berlin: Verl. der Weltreligionen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durrant, R., & Poppelwell, Z. (2017). Religion, crime, and punishment: An evolutionary perspective. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Easterly, W., Ritzen, J., & Woolcock, M. (2006). Social cohesion, institutions, and growth. Economics and Politics, 18(2), 103–120. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0343.2006.00165.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenger, M. (2012). Deconstructing social cohesion: Towards an analytical framework for assessing cohesion policies. Corvinus Journal of Social Policy, 3(2), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.14267/cjssp.2012.02.02.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, J. (2006). World separation of religion and state into the 21st century. Comparative Political Studies, 39(5), 537–569. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414005276310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, J. (2017). Religion and State Codebook: Round 3. https://www.thearda.com/ras/downloads/Religion%20and%20State%20Codebook%20Round%203.4%20main.pdf. Accessed: 3 Jan 2020.

  • Galen, L. W. (2012). Does religious belief promote prosociality? A critical examination. Psychological bulletin, 138(5), 876–906. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glock, C., & Stark, R. (1968). American piety: The nature of religious commitment. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2003). People’s opium? Religion and economic attitudes. Journal of Monetary Economics, 50(1), 225–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3932(02)00202-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hino, H., Langer, A., Lonsdale, J., & Stewart, F. (Eds.). (2019). From divided pasts to cohesive futures: Reflections on Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hox, J. J. (2010). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and applications (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Küpper, B. (2010). Zum Zusammenhang von Religiosität und Vorurteilen: Eine empirische Analyse. Ethik Und Gesellschaft: Ökumenische Zeitschrift Für Sozialethik, 2, 1–39. https://doi.org/10.18156/eug-2-2010-art-.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langer, A., Stewart, F., Smedts, K., & Demarest, L. (2017). Conceptualising and measuring social cohesion in Africa: Towards a perceptions-based index. Social Indicators Research, 131(1), 321–343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1250-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lauth, H., Pickel, G., & Pickel, S. (2015). Methoden der vergleichenden Politikwissenschaft: Eine Einführung (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Manrique, G. A., Sánchez, A., & Campa, E. M. (2015). La cohesión social y los límites de los hogares en México (2008–2012). Acta Universitaria, 25(4), 48–64. https://doi.org/10.15174/au.2015.775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCleary, R. M., & Barro, R. J. (2006). Religion and economy. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(2), 49–72. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.20.2.49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moody, J., & White, D. R. (2003). Structural cohesion and embeddedness: A hierarchical concept of social groups. American Sociological Review, 68(1), 103–127. https://doi.org/10.2307/3088904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2011). Sacred and secular: Religion and politics worldwide (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2011). Perspectives on Global Development 2012: Social Cohesion in a Shifting World. Paris: OECD. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/documents/social-cohesion.pdf. Accessed: 2 Mar 2020.

  • Olson, L. R., & Warber, A. L. (2008). Belonging, behaving, and believing: Assessing the role of religion on presidential approval. Political Research Quarterly, 61(2), 192–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912907313075.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickel, G., & Gladkich, A. (2011). Säkularisierung, religiöses Sozialkapital und Politik – Religiöses Sozialkapital als Faktor der Zivilgesellschaft und als kommunale Basis subjektiver Religiosität? In A. Liedhegener & I. Werkner (Eds.), Religion zwischen Zivilgesellschaft und politischem System: Befunde, Positionen, Perspektiven (pp. 81–109). Wiesbaden: VS Verl. für Sozialwissenschaften.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pollack, D. (2018). Säkularisierung. In D. Pollack, V. Krech, O. Müller, & M. Hero (Eds.), Handbuch Religionssoziologie (pp. 303–327). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pollack, D., & Müller, O. (2013). Religionsmonitor: Verstehen was verbindet: Religiosität und Zusammenhalt in Deutschland. Gütersloh: Verl. Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollack, D., & Rosta, G. (2017). Religion and modernity: An international comparison. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pollack, D., Tucci, I., & Ziebertz, H.-G. (Eds.) (2012). Religiöser Pluralismus im Fokus quantitativer Religionsforschung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston, J. L., Salomon, E., & Ritter, R. S. (2014). Religious prosociality: personal, cognitive, and social factors. In V. Saroglou (Ed.), Religion, Personality, and Social Behavior (pp. 149–169). New York: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabe-Hesketh, S., & Skrondal, A. (2012). Multilevel and longitudinal modeling using Stata (3rd ed.). College Station, Tex: Stata Press Publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riescher, G. (2010). Nationalstaat. In D. Nohlen & R. Schultze (Eds.), Lexikon der Politikwissenschaft (Vol. N-Z, pp. 641–642). München: Beck.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robson, K., & Pevalin, D. J. (2016). Multilevel modeling in plain language. Los Angeles: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saroglou, V. (Ed.). (2014). Religion, personality, and social behavior. New York: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiefer, D., & van der Noll, J. (2017). The essentials of social cohesion: A literature review. Social Indicators Research, 132(2), 579–603. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1314-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiefer, D., van der Noll, J., Delhey, J., & Boehnke, K. (2012). Kohäsionsradar: Zusammenhalt messen: Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt in Deutschland – ein erster Überblick. Gütersloh: Verl. Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnabel, A., & Grötsch, F. (2012). Religion und soziale Integration – Europa als Anwendungsfall einer Mehrebenen-Analyse. In D. Pollack, I. Tucci, & H.-G. Ziebertz (Eds.), Religiöser Pluralismus im Fokus quantitativer Religionsforschung (pp. 371–388). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schnabel, A., & Grötsch, F. (2014). In God we trust – the role of religion for cohesion and integration in current European societies. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 1(4), 375–398. https://doi.org/10.1080/23254823.2015.1057752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherkat, D. E. (2015). Religiosity. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavorial sciences (2nd ed.) (vol. 20, pp. 377–380). Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiftung, B. (Ed.). (2018). What holds Asian societies together? Insights from the social cohesion radar. Gütersloh: Verl. Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strasser, H. (2015). Gesellschaft. In D. Nohlen & F. Grotz (Eds.), Kleines Lexikon der Politik (6th ed., pp. 225–228). Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tausch, N., Hewstone, M., & Roy, R. (2009). The relationships between contact, status, and prejudice: An integrated threat theory analysis of Hindu-Muslim relations in India. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 19(2), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.984.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tocqueville, A. de (1976) [1840]. Über die Demokratie in Amerika. München: DTV.

    Google Scholar 

  • Traunmüller, R. (2012a). Religion und Sozialkapital: Ein doppelter Kulturvergleich. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Traunmüller, R. (2012b). Zur Messung von Staat-Kirche-Beziehungen: Neuere Indizes im Vergleich. Zeitschrift Für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 6(1), 207–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-012-0127-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Traunmüller, R. (2014). Religiöse Vielfalt, Sozialkapital und gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt: Religionsmonitor, verstehen was verbindet. Gütersloh: Verl. Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tschannen, O. (1991). The secularization paradigm: A systematization. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 30(4), 395–415. https://doi.org/10.2307/1387276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WVS (World Values Survey). (2010). Study 906-WVS2010: World Values Survey Wave 6 (2010–2014). https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV6.jsp. Accessed: 3 Jan 2020.

  • WVS (World Values Survey). (2020). World Values Survey site. https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp. Accessed: 3 Feb 2020.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Carolin Hillenbrand

Authors
  1. Carolin Hillenbrand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carolin Hillenbrand .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany

    Sarah Demmrich

  2. Universität Siegen, Siegen, Germany

    Ulrich Riegel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hillenbrand, C. (2020). Religion, a Bridge or Barrier in Society?. In: Demmrich, S., Riegel, U. (eds) Religiosity in East and West. Veröffentlichungen der Sektion Religionssoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-31035-6_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation