Journal Article

Religiosität und politische Orientierung - Radikalisierung, Traditionalisierung oder Entkopplung?

Wolf, Christof, Roßteutscher, Sigrid

2013

Overview

Issue Title: Religion und Gesellschaft In Germany as in other European countries the share of religious and churched persons is shrinking. The process of secularization is progressing gradually but inexorably and affects both Christian churches alike. In this contribution we examine if and how the numerical shrinkage of religious core segments affects the relation between religiosity and political attitudes. From secularization theory one can derive three partly opposing expectations. The radicalization thesis--particularly popular in the USA--assumes religious groups feel threatened by an increasingly secular society and this ties them together, radicalizes and mobilizes them. A second expectation rests on the assumption that in particular younger, economically well-off and highly educated people leave the churches. Through this process the social composition of the remaining church members changes leading not to radicalization but to traditionalization and withdrawal from politics. Finally, according to a third view it can be expected that the secularization process affects the entire society leading to a disintegration of tight religious milieus which in turn leads to a dissolution of social control and a decoupling of religiosity and political orientations. The central finding of our analyses is that--in support of our third hypothesis--religion loses its function for political attitudes and behaviors. In the German context the effect of religiosity on politics has been nearly exclusively studied with respect to voting behavior. By extending the focus to a wide range of other attitudes and behaviors and by taking a dynamic perspective this contribution thus closes an important research gap.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Attitudes / Churches / Dissolution / Emotions / Political attitudes / Politics / Radicalism / Religion / Religiosity / Religious cultural groups / Secularism / Secularization / Social composition / Social control / Sociology / Voter behavior