scholarly journals Religion, Social Connectedness, and Xenophobic Responses to Ebola

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roxie Chuang ◽  
Kimin Eom ◽  
Heejung S. Kim

This study examined the role of religion in xenophobic responses to the threat of Ebola. Religious communities often offer members strong social ties and social support, which may help members cope with psychological and physical threat, including global threats like Ebola. Our analysis of a nationally representative sample in the U.S. (N = 1,000) found that overall, the more vulnerable to Ebola people felt, the more they exhibited xenophobic responses, but this relationship was moderated by importance of religion. Those who perceived religion as more important in their lives exhibited weaker xenophobic reactions than those who perceived religion as less important. Furthermore, social connectedness measured by collectivism explained the moderating role of religion, suggesting that higher collectivism associated with religion served as a psychological buffer. Religious people showed attenuated threat responses because they had a stronger social system that may offer resources for its members to cope with psychological and physical threats. The current research highlights that different cultural groups react to increased threats in divergent ways.

2021 ◽  
pp. 027507402110492
Author(s):  
JungHo Park ◽  
Yongjin Ahn

This article examines government employees’ experience and expectation of socioeconomic hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic—employment income loss, housing instability, and food insufficiency—by focusing on the role of gender and race. Employing the Household Pulse Survey, a nationally representative and near real-time pandemic data deployed by the U.S. Census Bureau, we find that government employees were less affected by the pandemic than non-government employees across socioeconomic hardships. However, female and racial minorities, when investigated within government employees, have a worse experience and expectation of pandemic hardships than men and non-Hispanic Whites. Our findings suggest a clear gender gap and racial disparities in the experience and expectation of pandemic hardships.


Author(s):  
Quan Gao ◽  
Orlando Woods ◽  
Xiaomei Cai

This paper explores how the intersection of masculinity and religion shapes workplace well-being by focusing on Christianity and the social construction of masculinity among factory workers in a city in China. While existing work on public and occupational health has respectively acknowledged masculinity’s influences on health and the religious and spiritual dimensions of well-being, there have been limited efforts to examine how variegated, and especially religious, masculinities influence people’s well-being in the workplace. Drawing on ethnography and in-depth interviews with 52 factory workers and 8 church leaders and factory managers, we found that: (1) Variegated masculinities were integrated into the factory labor regime to produce docile and productive bodies of workers. In particular, the militarized and masculine cultures in China’s factories largely deprived workers of their dignity and undermined their well-being. These toxic masculinities were associated with workers’ depression and suicidal behavior. (2) Christianity not only provided social and spiritual support for vulnerable factory workers, but also enabled them to construct a morally superior Christian manhood that phytologically empowered them and enhanced their resilience to exploitation. This paper highlights not only the gender mechanism of well-being, but also the ways religion mediates the social-psychological construction of masculinity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Rosopa ◽  
Jesus Alfonso D. Datu ◽  
Stephen A. Robertson ◽  
Theresa P. Atkinson

Author(s):  
Bita Fayaz Farkhad ◽  
Alexander Karan ◽  
Dolores Albarracín

Abstract Background Although influenza vaccination can prevent influenza-related deaths, uptake remains low, particularly in disadvantaged populations. Purpose A theoretical model of psychological pathways to vaccination accounting for the direct and moderating role of socio-structural factors was tested. The study sought to understand the joint contributions of psychological (i.e., knowledge, attitudes, and intention) and socio-structural factors (i.e., income, education, and insurance) to influenza vaccination, prospectively. Methods A nationally representative empaneled sample of over 3,000 U.S. adults answered questions about vaccination knowledge, attitudes, and intentions, as well as actual vaccination across five timepoints from September 2018 to May 2019. Socio-structural factors were examined as moderators. Results Findings revealed strong positive associations between knowledge and attitudes, attitudes and intentions, as well as intentions and subsequent vaccination. Importantly, health insurance moderated the associations between attitudes and intentions and between intentions and vaccination, such that those without insurance had weaker associations between attitudes and intentions and between intentions and vaccination. In addition, education moderated the path from knowledge to attitude and from intentions to vaccination, such that people with lower educational attainment had weaker associations between knowledge and attitudes and between intentions and vaccination. Conclusions Socio-structural factors act as barriers to the influence of knowledge on attitudes, attitudes on intentions, and intentions on behavior. Future research needs to be mindful of the specific paths disrupted by social disadvantages and examine ways to intervene to decrease those effects.


2019 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 103335
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Gkorezis ◽  
Berrin Erdogan ◽  
Despoina Xanthopoulou ◽  
Victoria Bellou

2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 819-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Hitzer ◽  
Joachim Schlör

This article introduces a special issue that investigates the place of religion in the spatial and cultural organization of west and east European cities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Discussing different frameworks for a conceptualization of the role of religion within the urban context during the past two hundred years, it argues for adopting a broader perspective that takes into account the multiple and often conflicting processes and practices of religious modernization. Thus, it places particular emphasis on scrutinizing a space in between, that is to say, the area of contact between the outward influence on the spatial development of religious communities on the one hand and the inner workings of such communities on the other hand. Based on an 1880s debate over the way Jewish immigrants changed the religious landscape of New York Jewry as well as on the results of the following contributions, it supports a fresh look at the turn of the century as a period of intensified religious life and visibility within metropolises that contributed to the development of more “modern,” individualized forms of religious sociability and, in the same vein, fostered the emergence of modern urbanity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Merino

Research indicates that religious communities are important sites for the development of social resources, including social capital. Several studies suggest that religious involvement beyond worship services is a meaningful predictor of civic engagement that may foster bridging social capital, or ties that bridge social groups and cross lines of status and identity. This article explores the relationship between religious involvement and bridging social ties. Using nationally representative survey data and a subsample of individuals who are affiliated with one particular congregation, the article examines how religious service attendance and congregational participation (beyond services) are associated with frequency of interaction with someone from one of nine different social groups that vary along dimensions of social status and identity. Congregational participation beyond services positively predicts contact with several of the groups. In contrast, service attendance is either negatively related or not at all significantly related to interaction with someone from each of these nine different social groups.


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