scholarly journals Gendered Religiosity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Landon Schnabel

This study uses measures of cognitive and expressive aspects of gender as a social identity from the General Social Survey to examine whether and how they relate to religiosity. I find that religiosity is clearly gendered, but in different ways for women and men. Consistent with the feminine-typing of religion in the Christian-majority context of the United States, gender expression is linked with more religiousness among women but not men. Consistent with religion being a sometimes patriarchal institution, those with more pride in being men are more religious. I conclude that religiosity is gendered, that degendering and secularization processes could go hand-in-hand, and that future research on gender differences in religiosity should further examine variation among women and among men.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 06-18
Author(s):  
Yanyi K. Djamba ◽  
Sitawa R. Kimuna

Marital infidelity is a serious problem because it can lead to separation and even divorce. Yet, little is known about racial and gender differences in levels of extramarital sex in the United States in the last three decades (1991 to 2018). This study represents the first analysis of the racial and gender differences in levels and determinants of extramarital sex in the United States. We use data from all the 15 waves of the General Social Survey in which respondents were asked if they have ever had sex with someone other than their husband or wife when they were married. Descriptive and multivariate (logistic regression) analyses were conducted to determine the levels and determinants of racial and gender differences in extramarital sex in the last three decades. There are small changes in percent of extramarital sex between 1991 (14.63 percent) and 2018 (16.48 percent). However, despite some fluctuations observed across the 15 General Social Survey waves, the prevalence of extramarital sex has remained significantly higher for blacks compared to whites, and higher also for men than women. The results show the importance of race and gender in explaining extramarital sexual behavior in the United States. We discuss these findings in relation to previous studies and suggest directions for future research.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Landon Schnabel

Are women universally more religious than men? Some research on gender differences has argued that biology leads women to be innately more religious than men, but other research has highlighted the importance of avoiding universal claims and recognizing complexity. This brief note uses General Social Survey data to report gender differences in predicted religiosity by religious category across eight measures. In the United States, gender differences seem to be primarily a Christian phenomenon. While women reveal higher levels of religiosity across Christian groups, this trend does not extend to non-Christian groups. Furthermore, there is variation even among Christian groups, with women not revealing higher levels of religiosity for all measures. Nevertheless, there does seem to be a general trend for women to report daily prayer more often than men. These findings further problematize the idea that there are innate gender differences in religiosity rooted in biology, and provide a descriptive foundation for future attempts to explain why (American) Christian groups reveal gender differences in religiosity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-97
Author(s):  
Lim Jae Young ◽  
Woo Harin

The arts in the United States, for a long time received strong support from both sides of the political aisle. However, in recent years, the arts have been transformed into a partisan issue that pits conservatives against liberals. The article points to the importance of political trust as a means of helping conservatives overcome their ideological inclinations and support the arts. Scholars argue that political trust influences more strongly individuals who perceive a given policy to be one that imposes ideological risks for them compared with those without such risks. Focusing on the moderating role of political trust, the article examines whether political trust can help alleviate the conservatives’ hostility to the arts. Relying on the 2016 General Social Survey, the article finds that conservatives have no direct relationship with arts spending, but they will be more likely to support arts spending when this is contingent upon political trust.


Author(s):  
Michael Hout ◽  
Andrew Greeley

This chapter discusses the link between happiness and religion. It draws on meaning-and-belonging theory to deduce that a religious affiliation heightens happiness through participation in collective religious rituals. Attendance and engagement appear key: a merely nominal religious affiliation makes people little happier. Notably, two religious foundations of happiness—affiliation with organized religious groups and attendance at services—have fallen. Softened religious engagement, then, may contribute to the slight downturn in general happiness. In fact, steady happiness is reported among those who participate frequently in religious services, but falling levels among those who are less involved. The chapter also considers the association between religion and happiness outside the United States using data from the International Social Survey Program, an international collaborative survey to which the General Social Survey contributes the American data.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria D. H. Koeppel ◽  
Matt R. Nobles

This research examines female gun ownership trends from 1973 to 2010. Nationally representative General Social Survey data are used to compare rates for male and female gun ownership. In light of the specific marketing trends by gun manufacturers beginning in the mid-1990s as well as previous findings within the literature, we test (a) whether an increase in female gun ownership is observed from 1973 to 2010, (b) whether female gun owners report increased fear of crime, and (c) the extent to which other gun-owning motivations, especially hunting, shape women’s gun ownership. Our analysis confirms a decline in women’s gun ownership, but in contrast to previous studies emphasizing a link between fear of crime and female gun ownership, we find that hobbies and lifestyle factors may better explain women’s interests in firearms. We could conclude by highlighting avenues for new research that better take into account the heterogeneity of gun ownership in the United States.


2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-461
Author(s):  
Timothy L O’Brien ◽  
Shiri Noy

Abstract This article investigates changes in public perceptions of science and religion in the United States between 1973 and 2018. We argue that the deepening ties between science and religion and opposing moral claims reconfigured the relationship between political identities and confidence in science and religion during this period. Our analysis of 30 waves of General Social Survey data finds that while Republicans once were more likely than Democrats to be more confident in science than religion, Democrats are now more likely to than Republicans. And, while Democrats used to be more likely than Republicans to be more confident in religion than science, this difference also reversed. These findings underscore the growing importance of political identities as predictors of confidence in science and religion and suggest that the politicization of science and religion fueled a perception that they provide not just alternative frameworks but opposing ones.


Author(s):  
James D. Wright ◽  
Jana L. Jasinski ◽  
Drew Noble Lanier

In 1980, Arthur Stinchcombe, Tom Smith, Garth Taylor, and several additional coauthors published Crime and Punishment—Changing Attitudes in America. The book reviewed public opinion data from the first five or six waves of the General Social Survey (GSS), plus a large number of pre-GSS polls and surveys dating back to the 1930s, all dealing with attitudes of the American public toward crime, punishment, and social disorder. This chapter revisits the principal findings, themes, and conclusions of Crime and Punishment in light of what is now 30-plus years worth of GSS data. In addition, for the first time since Crime and Punishment was published, the United States has recently experienced a sharp decline in crime rates that began in about 1994 and continued for a decade. Thus, the chapter also explores the apparent effects of declining crime rates on Americans' attitudes about crime, punishment, and related matters.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew L Whitehead

While a growing body of research focuses on Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex couples as parents, very few include measures of religion and those that do fail to capture its multidimensional nature. Furthermore, many past studies rely on convenience samples of college students, or samples gathered outside the United States. Multivariate analyses of the 2012 General Social Survey – a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States – reveal that a slim majority of Americans still do not believe same-sex couples can parent as well as male-female couples and the religious beliefs, behaviors, and affiliations of Americans are significantly and at times differentially associated with appraisals of same-sex couples’ parenting abilities. It appears that while religion is generally associated with more negative appraisals of the parenting abilities of same-sex couples, it is not uniformly so. Americans’ immediate religious and cultural context can shape their appraisals of homosexuality in diverse ways.


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