scholarly journals Identity threats and ideas of superiority as drivers of religious violence? Evidence from a survey experiment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

2021 ◽  
pp. 002234332110352
Author(s):  
Matthias Basedau ◽  
Simone Gobien ◽  
Lisa Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
Religious Violence ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Threat Perceptions ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
Identity Threats ◽  
The Impact

Religion has become increasingly contentious in recent years. Faith-based discrimination, hostility and violence seem to have increased worldwide. But how can faith lead to conflict? In this article, we test the impact of two important dimensions of religion that have been neglected in previous research: the belief in ‘one true religion’ and perceptions of threats by other religious groups. Putting these two potential drivers to the test, we conducted a representative survey experiment with 972 respondents in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Results show that one of the tested dimensions, perceptions of threats by others, increases the support to use violence to defend one’s own group. This is particularly the case for religiously intolerant respondents with characteristics such as pre-existing threat perceptions, unfavorable views on intermarriage, or belief in the superiority of their own faith. In contrast, we find relatively weak evidence that the prime of ‘one true religion’ increases the readiness to use violence. Our findings have important implications for policy: We conclude that appeals by leaders to threats by others and intolerance toward other faiths can contribute to more conflict. Political and religious leaders should refrain from capitalizing on such notions and should promote tolerance towards other faiths instead.

scholarly journals Social sustainability and social (Dis)trust in outgroups: Evidence from Germany and Spain using the Factorial Survey

2021 ◽  
pp. 81-109
Author(s):  
Edurne Bartolomé ◽  
Hermann Dülmer ◽  
Lluís Coromina
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Factorial Survey ◽  
Threat Perceptions ◽  
Economic Threat ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

In the short to medium term, ethnic diversity tends to reduce trust. This negative relationship can be explained by social identity theory and integrated threat theory. The latter theory distinguishes realistic (socio-economic) threat perceptions from symbolic (cultural) ones. Huntington believes that with the end of the Cold War, conflicts shifted from being primarily economic to cultural, mainly religious ones. The goal of this article is to disentangle for the first time the impact of different sources of perceived threat as well as of in-group/out-group–based differences on trust by using a factorial survey conducted in Bilbao (Spain) and Cologne (Germany). Our main findings are that although both towns differ in religious and socio-economic composition, their citizens possess a similar level of generalised trust and perceive socio-economic threat as being much stronger than cultural threat. Weak evidence is also found for in-group/out-group–based differences in particularised trust. Recibido: 03 February 2021Aceptado: 10 March 2021

Symposium Introduction: The Politics of Religious Alliances

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-233
Author(s):  
Ursula Hackett ◽  
David E. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Credit Expansion ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Party Activists ◽  
The Impact

This symposium examines the politics of religious alliances. While the literature on religion and politics generally focuses on differences across individuals, congregations, denominations, or traditions, these articles instead ask how, when, and why religious groups do — and do not — form alliances with other organizations, both religious and secular. Specifically, this collection of original research examines the formation of multi-denominational coalitions among party activists, litigants, and religious leaders. These varied articles arose from a workshop at Oxford University in March 2015, an event hosted and funded by the Rothermere American Institute. The collection explores the impact of religious coalitional activity upon political attitudes, decision-making, and public policy development. It is wide-ranging, extending our understanding of religious coalitional activity beyond the United States and dealing with topics of vital current significance, including the swiftly changing landscape of school voucher and tax credit expansion, same-sex marriage, healthcare, and abortion advocacy.

scholarly journals BODHISATTVA COMES OUT OF CLOSET: CITY, SURVEILLANCE, AND DOING RELIGION

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-216
Author(s):  
Weishan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Grassroots Education ◽  
The Impact

The author is interested in looking at religious groups as a location for discussion and critique in a censorial society in China. This paper will take the approach of the “ecological model” in field research in a highly censorial and increasingly pluralistic city, Shanghai. Shanghai has experienced large scale social changes since the late 1980s. It is critical to understand how socio-structural challenges, such as immigration, affect faith-based groups within the frame of urban aspirations. In this paper, the adaptation of faith-based groups to their political environments will be the primarily focus. Due to governmental restriction in province-level municipalities, religious practices are invisible in public spaces but are revitalizing in private spaces in major Chinese cities. The roles urban religious institutions play in adapting to city regulations are especially pressing for faith groups. My research discovered, first, under the political surveillance in city, religious groups are not passively enduring the impact of political control, but also actively engaging in organizational development. Secondly, religious groups can be considered a location which creates a social space for grassroots education and, therefore, develops a more creative and fluid “popular politics” in society, which offers a critique to a highly regulated society

Religious Group Cues and Citizen Policy Attitudes in the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Adkins ◽  
Geoffrey C. Layman ◽  
David E. Campbell ◽  
John C. Green
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Religious Group ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Political Awareness ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Attitudes ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe public opinion literature shows that cues about the policy positions of social groups influence citizens’ political attitudes. We assess whether cues about religious groups’ positions affect attitudes on three issues: protection of homosexuals in the workplace, improving the socio-economic conditions of African-Americans, and government-provided health insurance. We argue that such cues should shape issue attitudes and condition the impact of religious and political orientations on those attitudes. That should be especially true on issues closely connected to religion and for citizens with low levels of political awareness. We assess this argument with a survey experiment pitting pairs of religious groups on opposite sides of issues. We find that religious group cues matter primarily for cultural attitudes, among less politically-aware individuals, and for the religiously unaffiliated, Democrats, and liberals. The dominant effect is negative, moving these groups away from the positions of religious leaders and especially evangelical leaders.

Processing of Social Identity Threats

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 361-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natascha de Hoog
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Negative Group ◽  
Identity Threat ◽  
Neutral Group ◽  
Threat Perceptions ◽  
Social Identity Threat ◽  
Identity Threats ◽  
Group Information ◽  
Source Study

The underlying process of reactions to social identity threat was examined from a defense motivation perspective. Two studies measured respondents’ social identification, after which they read threatening group information. Study 1 compared positive and negative group information, attributed to an ingroup or outgroup source. Study 2 compared negative and neutral group information to general negative information. It was expected that negative group information would induce defense motivation, which reveals itself in biased information processing and in turn affects the evaluation of the information. High identifiers should pay more attention to, have higher threat perceptions of, more defensive thoughts of, and more negative evaluations of negative group information than positive or neutral group information. Findings generally supported these predictions.

Interculturalism and the Acceptance of Minority Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Situational Effect

Abstract. Multiculturalism has been criticized and rejected by an increasing number of politicians, and social psychological research has shown that it can lead to outgroup stereotyping, essentialist thinking, and negative attitudes. Interculturalism has been proposed as an alternative diversity ideology, but there is almost no systematic empirical evidence about the impact of interculturalism on the acceptance of migrants and minority groups. Using data from a survey experiment conducted in the Netherlands, we examined the situational effect of promoting interculturalism on acceptance. The results show that for liberals, but not for conservatives, interculturalism leads to more positive attitudes toward immigrant-origin groups and increased willingness to engage in contact, relative to multiculturalism.

Religion and Medicine

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Levin ◽  
Stephen G. Post
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Religion And Medicine ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Baylor University ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

In Religion and Medicine, Dr. Jeff Levin, distinguished Baylor University epidemiologist, outlines the longstanding history of multifaceted interconnections between the institutions of religion and medicine. He traces the history of the encounter between these two institutions from antiquity through to the present day, highlighting a myriad of contemporary alliances between the faith-based and medical sectors. Religion and Medicine tells the story of: religious healers and religiously branded hospitals and healthcare institutions; pastoral professionals involved in medical missions, healthcare chaplaincy, and psychological counseling; congregational health promotion and disease prevention programs and global health initiatives; research studies on the impact of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices on physical and mental health, well-being, and healing; programs and centers for medical research and education within major universities and academic institutions; religiously informed bioethics and clinical decision-making; and faith-based health policy initiatives and advocacy for healthcare reform. Religion and Medicine is the first book to cover the full breadth of this subject. It documents religion-medicine alliances across religious traditions, throughout the world, and over the course of history. It summarizes a wide range of material of relevance to historians, medical professionals, pastors and theologians, bioethicists, scientists, public health educators, and policymakers. The product of decades of rigorous and focused research, Dr. Levin has produced the most comprehensive history of these developments and the finest introduction to this emerging field of scholarship.

scholarly journals All in it Together? Community Food Aid in a Multi-Ethnic Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
MADELEINE POWER ◽  
BOB DOHERTY ◽  
NEIL SMALL ◽  
SIMON TEASDALE ◽  
KATE E. PICKETT
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Food Aid ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Big Society ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
The North ◽  
Demographic Context

AbstractThis paper derives from a study of community food aid in a multi-ethnic, multi-faith city in the North of England. The paper begins to make sense of the diversity of types of food insecurity assistance, examines the potential exclusion of certain groups from receipt of food aid, and explores the relationship between food aid providers and the state. Faith-based food aid is common in the case study area, particularly among food bank provision to the most ‘destitute’ clients. While food aid is adopting service responsibilities previously borne by the state, this does not imply an extension of the ‘shadow state’. Rather, it appears reflective of a pre-welfare state system of food distribution, supported by religious institutions and individual/business philanthropy, but adapted to be consistent with elements of the ‘Big Society’ narrative. Most faith-based providers are Christian. There is little Muslim provision of (or utilisation of) food aid, despite the local demographic context. This raises concerns as to the unintentional exclusion of ethnic and religious groups, which we discuss in the concluding sections.

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