American Christian Nationalism and the Meaning of “Religion”

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Daniel D. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Active Process ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
The Us ◽  
Christian Nation ◽  
Christian Nationalism

Abstract American Christian nationalism highlights the entanglements of identity and power as they relate to the category of “religion.” Like many populist movements, Christian nationalism emerges out of a power-devaluation crisis stemming from the diminishment of White Christians’ social and political hegemony, coalescing around the affirmation that the US is a properly “Christian” nation. However, an examination of Christian nationalism reveals that the meaning of “Christian” within Christian nationalism cannot be captured by traditional measures of individual religiosity that tacitly presuppose that religion is essentially private, belief-focused, and non-political in nature, but must recognize that it expresses a complex social identity involving multiple social domains (e.g., race, gender, political ideology) and, as such, contests of power. This analysis is significant for religious studies because it suggests that religion is better approached analytically as an active process of socially-shared identity formation than as a belief system or Gestalt of individual religious practices.

Protecting America’s borders: Christian nationalism, threat, and attitudes toward immigrants in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022097829
Author(s):  
Rosemary L. Al-Kire ◽  
Michael H. Pasek ◽  
Jo-Ann Tsang ◽  
Joseph Leman ◽  
Wade C. Rowatt
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Religious Fundamentalism ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigrants ◽  
The Us ◽  
Immigrant Policies ◽  
Christian Nationalism

Attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policies are divisive issues in American politics. These attitudes are influenced by factors such as political orientation and religiousness, with religious and conservative individuals demonstrating higher prejudice toward immigrants and refugees, and endorsing stricter immigration policies. Christian nationalism, an ideology marked by the belief that America is a Christian nation, may help explain how religious nationalist identity influences negative attitudes toward immigrants. The current research addresses this through four studies among participants in the US. Across studies, our results showed that Christian nationalism was a significant and consistent predictor of anti-immigrant stereotypes, prejudice, dehumanization, and support for anti-immigrant policies. These effects were robust to inclusion of other sources of anti-immigrant attitudes, including religious fundamentalism, nationalism, and political ideology. Further, perceived threats from immigrants mediated the relationship between Christian nationalism and dehumanization of immigrants, and attitudes toward immigration policies. These findings have implications for our understanding of the relations between religious nationalism and attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy in the US, as well as in other contexts.

Public perceptions of who counts as a scientist for controversial science

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 797-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianne Suldovsky ◽  
Asheley Landrum ◽  
Natalie Jomini Stroud
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Science Media

In an era where expertise is increasingly critiqued, this study draws from the research on expertise and scientist stereotyping to explore who the public considers to be a scientist in the context of media coverage about climate change and genetically modified organisms. Using survey data from the United States, we find that political ideology and science knowledge affect who the US public believes is a scientist in these domains. Our results suggest important differences in the role of science media attention and science media selection in the publics “scientist” labeling. In addition, we replicate previous work and find that compared to other people who work in science, those with PhDs in Biology and Chemistry are most commonly seen as scientists.

Personality, Social Identity, and Individual Differences in Multinational Decision-Making

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 848-852
Author(s):  
Gerald Matthews ◽  
Lauren Reinerman-Jones ◽  
Shawn Burke ◽  
Grace Teo ◽  
David Scribner
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Multicultural Competence ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Multiple Samples

Contemporary military operations require the US to partner with coalition nations, so that commanders must make effective decisions for multinational teams. The effectiveness of decision-making may depend on various factors. General decision-making competence and personality traits that promote interpersonal functioning may be advantageous in the team context. Sociocultural factors such as a strong nationalistic social identity may be harmful to decision-making in multinational teams. The current study ( N=696) examined correlates of a Situation Judgment Test (SJT) for multicultural decision-making ability in multiple samples. Predictors of better SJT performance included general decision-making ability, low nationalism, and various personality traits. Multivariate analyses discriminated multiple, independent predictors. Findings suggest assessment of the various strengths and weaknesses that shape the individual’s decision-making may inform training for multicultural competence.

scholarly journals Intergenerational Bubbles of Beliefs for Sustainability

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10652
Author(s):  
Keiichiro Kobayashi ◽  
Asako Chiba
Keyword(s):  
Simple Model ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Current Generation ◽  
Dynamic Economy ◽  
Religious Doctrine

We constructed a simple model of a dynamic economy in which the current generation chooses to excessively consume, thereby rendering society unsustainable. In such an economy, we assumed that a notional bubbly asset emerges, and its value grows if the current generation conserves adequate resources for future generations. Provided that the bubbly asset is considered valuable, the current generation chooses to conserve resources, rendering the economy sustainable. The condition for sustainability is that the value of this asset grows intergenerationally and indefinitely. The asset represents a belief system, such as a religious doctrine or a political ideology. Results imply that, to restore sustainability, a new intergenerational belief system must be identified, and its value grows indefinitely.

scholarly journals Mindful Economics: The Production, Consumption, and Value of Beliefs

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Bénabou ◽  
Jean Tirole
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Anxiety Reduction ◽  
Wishful Thinking ◽  
Moral Self ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
Economic Goods

In this paper, we provide a perspective into the main ideas and findings emerging from the growing literature on motivated beliefs and reasoning. This perspective emphasizes that beliefs often fulfill important psychological and functional needs of the individual. Economically relevant examples include confidence in ones' abilities, moral self-esteem, hope and anxiety reduction, social identity, political ideology, and religious faith. People thus hold certain beliefs in part because they attach value to them, as a result of some (usually implicit) tradeoff between accuracy and desirability. In a sense, we propose to treat beliefs as regular economic goods and assets—which people consume, invest in, reap returns from, and produce, using the informational inputs they receive or have access to. Such beliefs will be resistant to many forms of evidence, with individuals displaying non-Bayesian behaviors such as not wanting to know, wishful thinking, and reality denial.

Space Modeling of Problem Solving Strategies of “Prisoner's Dilemma”

2021 ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
D.J. Balanev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Prisoner's Dilemma ◽  
Prisoner’S Dilemma ◽  
Real People ◽  
Space Modeling ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Before And After

An iterated version of the game "Prisoner's Dilemma" is used as a model of cooperation largely due to the wide range of strategies that the subjects can use. The problem of the effec-tiveness of strategies for solving the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD) is most often considered from the point of view of information models, where strategies do not take into account the relationship that arise when real people play. Some of these strategies are obvious, others depend upon social context. In our paper, we use one of the promising directions in the development of studying IPD strategies – the use of artificial neural networks. We use neural networks as a modeling tool and as a part of game environment. The main goal of our work is to build an information model that predicts the behavior of an individual person as well as group of people in the situation of solving of social dilemma. It takes into account social relationship, including those caused by experimental influence, gender differences, and individual differences in the strategy for solving cognitive tasks. The model demonstrates the transition of individual actions into socially determined behavior. Evaluation of the effect of socialization associated with the procedure of the game provides additional information about the effectiveness and characteristics of the experimental impact.The paper defines the minimum unit of analysis of the IPD player's strategy in a group, the identity with which can be considered as a variable. It discusses the influence of the experi-mentally formed group identity on the change of preferred strategies in social dilemmas. We use the possibilities of neural networks as means of categorizing the results of the prisoner's iterative dilemma in terms of the strategy applied by the player, as well as social factors. We define the patterns of changes in the IPD player's strategy before and after socialization are determined. The paper discusses the questions of real player's inclination to use IPD solution strategies in their pure form or to use the same strategy before and after experimental inter-ventions related to social identity formation. It is shown that experimentally induced socialization can be considered as a mechanism for increasing the degree of certainty in the choice of strategies when solving IPD task. It is found out that the models based on neural networks turn out to be more efficient after experi-mentally evoked social identity in a group of 6 people; and the models based on neural net-works are least effective in the case of predicting a subject's belonging to a gender group. When solving IPD problems by real people, it turns out to be possible to talk about generalized strategies that take into account not only the evolutionary properties of «pure» strategies, but also reflect various social factors.

scholarly journals Feminist Scholarship and Its Relevance for Political Engagement: The Test Case of Abortion in the US

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-43
Author(s):  
Margaret D. Kamitsuka
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ethical Thinking ◽  
Societal Dynamics

This essay explores how gender studies in academe, including in religious studies, might remain relevant to ongoing feminist political engagement. I explore some specific dynamics of this challenge, using as my test case the issue of abortion in the US. After discussing how three formative feminist principles (women’s experience as feminism’s starting point, the personal is political, and identity politics) have shaped approaches to the abortion issue for feminist scholars in religion, I argue that ongoing critique, new theoretical perspectives, and attentiveness to subaltern voices are necessary for these foundational feminist principles to keep pace with fast-changing and complex societal dynamics relevant to women’s struggles for reproductive health and justice. The essay concludes by proposing natality as a helpful concept for future feminist theological and ethical thinking on the subject.

scholarly journals A More Perfect Union? Christian Nationalism and Support for Same-Sex Unions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew L Whitehead ◽  
Samuel Perry
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
National Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Civil Unions ◽  
Social Identity Complexity ◽  
Christian Nationalism

How do overlapping social identities shape Americans’ views toward contemporary social and moral issues? Drawing upon national-level data and employing the theoretical construct of social identity complexity, we examine the link between Christian nationalism–representing a convergence of national and religious identities–and Americans’ views toward same-sex marriage and civil unions. Multivariate analyses reveal that greater adherence to Christian nationalism is strongly and negatively related to support for both same-sex marriage and civil unions, even after controlling for political ideology, religious controls, attribution of homosexuality, and other relevant correlates. We argue that Christian nationalists, who by definition internalize a high degree of overlap between political and religious identities, are more likely to see gays and lesbians as out-groups and same-sex unions as a threat to their sense of self and community. We conclude by discussing the implications of this study for future research on political and religious identities and intolerance toward socially marginalized populations.

scholarly journals The Social Identity Change of Little Bee as the Main Character in Chris Cleave‟s The Other Hand

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riska Hendika Rani
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Detention Center ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
British People

Chris Cleave‟s novel entitled The Other Hand pictures an African refugee‟s life in the United Kingdom and her struggle to survive in the country. As an illegal refugee from Africa who smuggles herself into a tea ship, Little Bee, the refugee, has to stay in the immigration detention center when she arrives in the United Kingdom. She deals with identity issues during her two-year-stay in the immigration detention center. The questions such as „why don‟t British people treat her in a good way‟ and „why do British people get respect and she does not‟ make her want to be treated like a British, which she assumes, being treated nicely in the United Kingdom. Under the paradigm of social identity theory which contains the three stages of identity formation proposed by Henri Tajfel and John Turner, this study attempts to explain Little Bee‟s process of identity formation. Focusing on Little Bee‟s struggle in the United Kingdom as an illegal refugee from Africa, this study analyzes the three stages of identity formation that Little Bee has been through during her social identity transformation, as well as the factors influencing her and her struggle during the process.

scholarly journals Social identity formation during the emergence of the occupy movement

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (7) ◽  
pp. 818-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura G. E. Smith ◽  
Jeffrey Gavin ◽  
Elise Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Occupy Movement
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