Effervescence and Solidarity in Religious Organizations

Abstract

In the ritual theories of Durkheim and Collins, collective effervescence is the engine that drives social solidarity. I use data from religious organizations to perform a rare test of this hypothesis. In addition, four other hypotheses from Collins's interaction ritual theory are tested regarding ritual dynamics that are expected to promote effervescence and solidarity. Congregational data from the 2001 United States Congregational Life Survey reveal the following: (1) organizational attendance rates strongly correlate with the dependent variables; (2) longer rituals tend to be more emotionally rewarding, although there appear to be diminishing returns for symbolic solidarity; (3) crowded rituals are more rewarding, although socioeconomic status is a crucial intervening variable; (4) barriers to outsiders in the form of behavioral proscriptions correlate with symbolic solidarity; and (5) most important, there is a consistent and robust relationship between effervescence and solidarity. Interaction ritual theory provides a valuable framework for understanding how some religious organizations become more effective than others at providing emotional and symbolic rewards for their members.

Aspiration Strain and Mental Health: The Education‐Contingent Role of Religion

“…Future studies might benefit from untangling which particular facets of our religious measures helped in this regard. For example, in addition to preserving beliefs in a just world, regular worship attendance may promote salutary emotional states like awe and collective effervescence that also soothe anxieties over one's material status (Draper ). Given the bluntness of our religious social support measure, our analyses also obscured whether tangible, emotional, or spiritual aid from co‐religionists ultimately alleviated the effects of aspiration strain on psychological distress (Krause et al.…”

The preeminent sacred symbol: Theorizing image of God outcomes

“…As they do so, they gain “social solidarity”—powerful feelings of group identification accompanied by firm convictions about what is real and what is good. Sacred objects, and the rituals which focus on them, thus provide communities with their most fundamental conceptions of identity, truth, and morality (Collins, ; Draper, ; Rawls, ). Even when away from the group, an individual who encounters or reflects on her group's sacred symbols can resummon the old feelings of effervescence, and in this way sacred symbols exert influence even outside the context of group rituals.…”

“…Durkheim argued that these processes found in “elementary forms” of religion are the same processes at work in modern religiosity. In modern life, as well, even outside religious contexts, humans engage in rituals and focus together on sacred symbols, and the powerful feelings evoked in these rituals provide certainty about identity, truth, and morality (Collins, ; Draper, ; Goffman, ).…”

The Optimal Level of Strictness and Congregational Growth

“…Their constituents have similar preferences in matters of strictness [12]. Though the division is contested, I follow Roof and McKinney [21] to categorize religious groups into eight religious traditions in the United States: Catholics, Jews, Conservative Protestants, Moderate Protestants, Liberal Protestants, 1 Individual members are the constituent resource for religious organizations because they not only are the suppliers of time and money that influence congregational growth [3], but they also impact ritual density, an important factor in sustaining religious communities [9,10]. 2 This is a slightly different understanding of niche than Popielarz and Neal ( [13], p. 68), which they say is "the set of environmental states in which [a species] needs to survive."…”