Social Groups And Religion

Religion is often the source of social hierarchy in society. Major religions often hold power over minority religions within the same society, and even within specific religions, there is stratification based on the religious positions people hold or the different branches of the religion people belong to.

A.S. Miller and J.P. Hoffmann (1995) found that women are more interested in religion than men, have stronger commitments to religious movements, and attend church services in higher numbers than men.

Steve Bruce’s (2012) research points out that while women are leaving traditional churches in higher numbers than men, there are twice as many women as men in sects and New Age movements.

There are several explanations in sociology for why women are more religious than men.

Traditional social role theory

The most common sociological explanation for the higher number of female followers of religion comes from the ‘traditional social role theory’. Traditional femininity assumes a caring, nurturing, emotional, passive, and submissive role for women, which were all seen as virtues by many religions, including Christianity. The women who accepted these roles could easily find comfort and support in the traditional religion, more so than men.

According to Bruce, women's caring, emotional, and less aggressive attitudes to life brought them closer to the New Age movements as well. New Age practices were often based on intuitiveness and healing, which have traditionally been seen as feminine attributes.

Some sociologists argue that women’s direct connection to birth make them more interested in the ultimate questions of life and its meaning, which is one of the main concerns of all religions. As the main caregivers of children, it is thought that women are drawn to religion for advice and guidance in raising them. Women have also been the primary caretakers of the elderly and the sick. This places them in direct connection with death. Most religions provide answers to questions about death and the afterlife, which might help women in dealing with the loss of relatives they cared for, argues Andrew Greely (1992).

Simone de Beauvoir (1949) argued that women turn to religion for compensation for their inferior social status in male-dominated society. She raises the point that this compensation is only an illusion and is harmful in the long run, because it reinforces women’s second-class status.

Other explanations

• Some sociologists argue that the higher rate of female participation in religion is connected to age trends, not to social role theory. Older people tend to be more religious than younger people; since women live longer than men, there are more women among those who practice religion.

• Miller and Hoffmann (1995) claim that women are more likely to work in part-time positions, so they have more time to get involved with religious activities.

• Glock and Stark (1969) and Stark and Bainbridge (1985) assert that religion is appealing to women because they suffer from deprivation in higher numbers than men.
• • Organismic deprivation: Women are more likely to suffer from illnesses and mental health problems, which makes them turn to religion for healing and comfort.
  • Ethical deprivation: Women are more likely to believe that the world is in moral decline, so they turn towards religion for traditional value systems.
  • Social deprivation: Women are more likely to suffer from poverty. They turn to religion for comfort and guidance.

• Callum Brown (2001) and Linda Woodhead (2007) believe that women have been joining new religious movements (NRMs) and New Age Movements in high numbers because they provide a more 'freeing' alternative to conservative traditional religions, helping them to escape conventional social roles and find freedom and independence.

Fig. 1 - Women have turned to New Age practices, such as meditation, in higher numbers than men because they find them freeing alternatives to traditional religions.

Voas and Watt researched the Church of England and made three observations that are connected to social class (2014).

They conclude from this that middle-class people attend church in higher numbers in the UK than working-class people. At the same time, Ashworth and Farthing (2007) claim that working-class people are more likely to believe in God.

Caroline Lawes found that atheists usually come from higher educational and professional backgrounds, usually from the middle classes (2009).

Max Weber argued that there is a connection between religiosity and poverty (1920). He said that certain sects and religious movements appeal to people of the lower classes because they offer support and comfort in times of financial troubles and social deprivation.

Following Weber, Ken Pryce asserted that the core values of Pentecostalism, e.g. the importance of community, family, and hard work, are all useful guidance in coping with poverty and emotional deprivation, which the lower classes and ethnic minorities often suffer from. No wonder, he said, that British Pentecostalism is more popular among ethnic minorities and the lower classes, which often overlap (1979).

Andrew McKinnon (2017) points out the lack of research on the link between religion and social class. This lack of data makes it impossible to make direct connections between trends, so sociologists have to rely on indirect indicators.

The data that does exist can be misleading. For instance, the fact that middle-class individuals attend church in higher numbers does not necessarily mean that the middle-class is more religious than other classes. People attend church services for several individual reasons other than being devoted believers. They might be under social or family pressure to attend, or they might want to have better chances of getting their children into church schools, which tend to perform well academically.

The UK is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, where Christians represent the biggest religious group, while Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs are also significant in number.

Most Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs are from ethnic minority backgrounds, while many Christians are Afro-Caribbean. British Muslims are often of Pakistani heritage, while Sikhs and Hindus are usually of Indian heritage.

Tariq Modood et al. (1997) found that the rate of religious participation is higher than average among ethnic minorities in the UK. While less than one-third of Christians said they practised religion regularly, 80% of Muslims and around two-thirds of Hindus, Sikhs, and Jews reported that religion is an important part of their everyday lives.

O’Beirne found that Muslims, Hindus, and Black Christians determine religion to be a significant factor in their identity formation (2004). White Christians rarely attribute any importance to their religion in their identity.

Black Christians are more likely to be active churchgoers than their white counterparts, and they comprise the majority of Pentecostal church membership.

Sociologists argue that there are four main reasons for the higher level of religious involvement among minority ethnic groups.

Older people are more likely to be religious than younger people.

Minority religions have a younger base than Christianity in the UK. While only 55% of Christians are younger than 50, 85% of Muslims are aged below 50.

There has been a great decline in Sunday school attendance among young Christians over the past century. In 1900, 55% of the British population attended Sunday school. In 2000, this had come down to 4% of the population (Bruce, 2001).

On the other hand, Eileen Barker researched the world-rejecting sect, the Unification Church (also known as Moonies) and found that most of its members are aged between 18 and 30.

New Age Movements are most popular among middle-aged people.

Voas and Crockett (2005) establish two main reasons for the age trends in sociology.

The ageing effect

The theory of the 'ageing effect' highlights the fact that people seem to turn to religion and spirituality as they get older. It seems that as people approach death, they think more about the afterlife, and search more for answers to the ultimate questions of life.

Older people (especially women, who tend to live longer than men) have seen more of their friends and partners dying, which again turns their attention towards the possibility of an afterlife. Religions offer various explanations and answers and generally promote the idea of heaven, which might be comforting for people as they get older and closer to the end of their lives.

The generational effect

The generational effect refers to the idea that, as a result of secularisation, each new generation is less religious than the previous one. The older population, who attend church and are overall more religious, grew up in a society where religion was much more a part of everyday life, socialisation, and education than it is in the lives of the young now. Bruce adds that Christianity, for instance, has failed to socialise young people into religion in the 21st century (2001).

Sociologists also argue that the rising levels of higher education in society result in economic development, which means less stress on an everyday level. People no longer need religion to provide solace and refuge for their everyday troubles.