Gendering (Non)Religion: Politics, Education, and Gender Gaps in Secularity in the United States

A popular measure of religious identification poses several problems for researchers because of its lack of conceptual and historical grounding. The scheme truncates continuity along the well‐established sect‐church continuum, and poses problems for both theory and methodological operationalization. We reiterate the importance of key sociological and historical foundations for classifying religious groups, provide an empirical assessment of a more exacting scheme compared to the newly dominant classification, and supply a coding system for the General Social Survey which could also be applied to other studies. We conclude by discussing the usefulness of our categorization for advancing social science research on religious identification.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Religious Identification in the United States

Lehman

Sherkat²

2018

“…Some of these may also affect risk preferences and behaviors. This includes personality characteristics, femininity/masculinity traits, family and friends' religious practices, educational experiences, community factors, and perhaps even some genetic or biologically relevant aspects of one's life (Baker and Whitehead 2016;Bradshaw andEllison 2008, 2009;Dohmen et al 2011b;Figner and Weber 2011;Hoffmann 2009;Smith and Denton 2009;Thiessen and Wilkins-Laflamme 2017).…”

Section: Risk Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Preference Theory and Gender Differences in Religiousness: A Replication and Extension

Hoffmann¹

2018

Almost 25 years ago, Miller and Hoffmann developed a theory of risk preferences as a way to account for gender differences in religiousness. Although several subsequent studies have purportedly examined the theory, there has been no genuine replication of their empirical analysis. This study provides a replication and extension using three nationally representative samples of adolescents in the United States: the 2015 Monitoring the Future (n = 2,292) study, the 2010 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (n = 18,394), and the 2005 National Survey of Youth and Religion (n = 2,059). The results provide modest support for risk preference theory: the introduction of risk preferences diminishes the female‐male difference in religiousness among youth in all three data sets. However, there is also evidence that risk behaviors and religious affiliation may be more important than risk preferences in accounting for gender differences in religiousness.

“…Women tend to be more religious than men in the United States and in many places around the world (Baker and Whitehead ; Collett and Lizardo ; Freese and Montgomery ; Roth and Kroll ; Schnabel ; Sullins ). For example, they tend to say religion is more important in their lives, pray more often, and attend religious services more frequently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where Men Appear More Religious Than Women: Turning a Gender Lens on Religion in Israel

Schnabel

Hackett

McClendon

2018

Past research, typically focused on Christians in Christian nations, has found that women tend to be more religious than men. This study uses original nationally representative data (N = 5,601) INTRODUCTIONWomen tend to be more religious than men in the United States and in many places around the world (Baker and Whitehead 2016;Collett and Lizardo 2009;Freese and Montgomery 2007;Roth and Kroll 2007; Schnabel 2016;Sullins 2006). For example, they tend to say religion is more important in their lives, pray more often, and attend religious services more frequently. This gender gap in religion is so widespread that some religion scholars have argued it is a universal social fact and suggested that women may be biologically predisposed to be more religious (BeitHallahmi 2014;Miller and Stark 2002;Stark 2002). Even scholars who question the biological argument suggest that the gender gap in religion has more empirical support than other commonly accepted "social facts" (Hoffmann 2009). But recent research has begun to suggest religion is a part of our intersectional selves, that it is experienced differently by people in different groups (Edgell 2017;Frost and Edgell 2017; Schnabel 2016;Wilde and Glassman 2016). Therefore, rather than women being universally more religious than men, this common pattern may be the result of particular social processes present among some groups but not others. Acknowledgments:We are grateful to Orit Avishai, Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Steven Cohen, Alan Cooperman, Sergio DellaPergola, Sylvia Fishman, Ariela Keysar, Pamela Nadell, Brian Powell, Neha Sahgal, Alex Weinreb, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. All errors and omissions remain our own.