religiosity and social groups

• gender and religiosity

  davie - there are gender differences in religious practice, belief, self-identification, private prayer and other aspects of society

  • brierly - female churchgoers outnumber men by almost half a million
  • more women (54%) say they have a religion than men (41%)
  • more women (38%) say their religion is important to them than men (26%)
  • ferguson + hussey - in all major faiths except sikhism women are more likely to practice their religion
• reasons for gender differences - risk, socialisation and roles


  miller + hoffman - there are three reasons for women being more religious

  1. risk - women are socialised to be less risk-taking so are less likely to not be religious and risk being condemned to hell if religion is right
  2. socialisation - women are socialised to be more passive and caring, which are qualities highly valued within religion
  3. roles - women are more likely to work part-time due to gender roles so have more time to participate in religious activities

  • greerly - taking care of family members increases religiosity
• reasons for gender differences - caring roles


  davie - women are closer to brith and death through childbirth and caring for elderly relatives, which brings them closer to ultimate questions about the meaning of life

  • fits with gender differences in the perception of god - men view god as one of power and control whereas women view god as loving and forgiving
• reasons for gender differences - paid work

  bruce - women's religiosity links to their lower involvement in paid work

  • rationalisation has driven religion out of male-dominated spheres of work and confined it to the private sphere of home and family life - where women hold more responsibility
  • brown - women joining the workforce has led to the 'decline of female piety'
• reasons for gender differences - draws for women

  • religion has a strong affinity with values like caring others, and women continue to have a primary caring for the young and old in both private and workplace spheres
  • links to davie's idea of women being closer to birth and death
  • woodhead - men's withdrawal from religion has allowed it to be feminised, which reinforces what makes religion attractive to women
  • the introduction of female priests and bishops in 1994 and 2015 respectively may have exaggerated this effect
• women and the new age

  heelas + woodhead - 80% of participants in the holistic mileu were female, potentially because movements often celebrate the 'natural' and involve cults of healing which raise women's self-confidence

  • bruce - women's childrearing experience makes them less aggressive and goal-oriented which fits with the expressive emphasis of the new age
  • also emphasises being authentic rather than acting out roles, so attracts women who feel their gender roles are restrictive and wish an escape from them
• women and the new age - individual sphere

  woodhead - working women may experience a role conflict between a masculinised instrumental role in employment and a feminised expressive role in the family

  • new age beliefs attract these women because it appeals to a third, individual sphere concerned with autonomy and personal growth rather than an adherence to a role
  • brown - new age 'self' religions of subjective experience rather than external authority appeal to women's desire for autonomy
  • however some women are attracted to fundamentalism because of the certainty of enforced gender roles
• women and the new age - class differences

  bruce - women's attraction to new age vs traditional religions can be split by class

  • middle class - attracted to new age beliefs that emphasise personal autonomy and self development
  • working class - attracted to ideas that grant them a more passive role that link to an all-powerful god and fatalism
  • links to sugarman's working class subcultures

  these differences fit with other class differences eg. middle class women being more influenced by the women's liberation movement, maybe due to a desire for freedom not present in working class women
• women, compensators and sects

  bruce - there are twice as many women involved in sects

  • stark + bainbridge - sects offer compensators for deprivation which is more common among women
  • organismic deprivation - physical and mental health problems, women are more likely to suffer from ill health and seek the healing of sects
  • ethical deprivation - women are more morally conservative and so more likely to see the world as declining morally as sects do
  • social deprivation - women are more likely to be poor
• the pentecostal gender paradox

  martin - pentecostalism is generally regarded as a patriarchal form of religion, but still proves attractive to women, this is the pentecostal gender paradox as why should women be attracted to a conservative religion

  • brusco - pentecostalism demands an ascetic lifestyle and the traditional gender divide, which women can use to combat a culture in which 20-40% of men's income is spent on alcohol
  • while it doesn't offer western feminist liberation it is a tool women can use for their own gain, much like woodhead's study of hijabs
• recent trends in gender and religiosity

  while women are more likely to be religious there has been an overall decline in female religiosity on trend with secularisation

  • this can be explained by women's movement into paid work and rejection of traditional gender roles
  • the increase in women participating in the new age is overall unable to compensate for this
• ethnicity and religion

  • brierley - black people are twice as likely to attend church as white people
  • muslims, hindus and black christians are more likely to see their religion as important than white christians, and the same groups are more likely to attend a place of worship weekly
  • black people are more likely to be pentecostal and make up 40% of the pentecostal church
  • modood - there is a decline of religious importance across all ethnic groups, particularly among the second generation
• explaining ethnic differences - cultural defence

  bruce - in situations of immigration religion offers a sense of support and identity in an unfamiliar and hostile environment

  • bird - religion can be a basis for community, cultural preservation and a coping strategy for oppression for minorities
  • white churches often reject black christians which leads them to create their own places of worship
  • brierley - there has been a significant growth of churches in london catering to specific languages and nationalities
• explaining ethnic differences - cultural transition

  bruce - religion can be used to ease the transition into a new culture by providing support and a sense of community

  • herberg - this explains high levels of religious participation in first generation immigrants to the usa
  • explains why groups like irish catholics have lost their religion as they complete their transition into british society and become integrated
• age and religiosity


  in general, the older a person is the more likely they are to attend religious services

  • the only exception to this is under 15s because they have less choice and are made to go by their parents
  • there is a general trend in declining attendance in all groups except over 65s
  • half of all english churches have no attendees under 20
• reasons for age differences

  voas + crockett ~

  1. the ageing effect - people turn to religion as they get older eg. heelas + woodhead - people come more interested in spirituality as they get closer to death and feel more need for comfort about the insecurity of afterlife
  2. the cohort effect - people born during a particular period eg. world war two may be more likely to be religious because of the experience
  3. secularisation - as religion loses importance each generation is less religious
• reasons for age differences - secularisation

  voas + crockett - the biggest reason for age differences is that the uk is becoming more secular so less people are socialised into religion each generation

  • in each succeeding genderation half as many people are religious as in the previous generation
  • arweck + beckford - after the 60s there was a 'virtual collapse of religious socialisation' eg. the almost disappearance of sunday shcools
  • voas - even when parents share a religion they raise their child with those beliefs 50% of the time
  • 25% of the time when parents' beliefs are different