Exam 1 Review continued

Question 1

Define religious socialization, know major agents of religious socialization

Answer 1

Religious socialization can be defined as the process by which new generations gradually acquire the religious values and ideas of older generations. In that process there are conscious agents, partly with differing agendas: parents, religious organizations and society.

Question 2

Basic trends in religious socialization/transmission (Pew data)

Answer 2

Generations, like people, have personalities, and Millennials — the American teens and twenty-somethings who are making the passage into adulthood at the start of a new millennium — have begun to forge theirs: confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change.

They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. They’re less religious, less likely to have served in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in American history.

(The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C., that provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis, and other empirical social science research. It does not take explicit policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.)

Question 3

Role of family/parents – strongest predictor of religiosity as an adult

Answer 3

BUT, transmission isn’t a given, factors influence it (relationships quality, intermarriage, peers, etc.)

Question 4

What is social learning theory and how does it apply to religious socialization?

Answer 4

The Social Learning Theory says that people can learn by watching other people perform the behavior. Observational learning explains the nature of children to learn behaviors by watching the behavior of the people around them, and eventually, imitating them.

Question 5

What do we know about religion over the life course? General patterns

Answer 5

By some key measures, Americans ages 18 to 29 are considerably less religious than older Americans. Fewer young adults belong to any particular faith than older people do today. They also are less likely to be affiliated than their parents’ and grandparents’ generations were when they were young. Fully one-in-four members of the Millennial generation – so called because they were born after 1980 and began to come of age around the year 2000 – are unaffiliated with any particular faith.

Patterns of change in religious service attendance across the life course: Evidence from a 34-year longitudinal study R. David Hayward* Neal Krause University of Michigan *Contact: rdhaywar@umich.edu

Question 6

Kanter’s commitment model:

Answer 6

instrumental,
affective,
moral

Question 7

How do religious affiliation and demographic characteristics relate to one’s image of God?

Answer 7

religious affiliation set’s a foundation for core beliefs, about god.

Demographic characteristics correlate with social influences and religious socialization impact the view of our “God”.

Two dimensions:

1. God’s level of engagement in the world
2. God’s level of judgment

Four “images of God”

1. Authoritative
2. Benevolent
3. Critical
4. Distant

Question 8

How does one image of God predict their political and social views, and their views of science and disasters?

Two dimensions:

1. God’s level of engagement in the world
2. God’s level of judgment

Four “images of God”

1. Authoritative
2. Benevolent
3. Critical
4. Distant

Answer 8

If one accepts God to be in full control of the universe and it’s chaotic nature; accepting no personal responsibility for the outcome of their lives. They are probably less likely to be liberal minded when it comes to political issues. ( I’ve personally talked to multiple Christians, that have argued that fact that god punishes individuals through multiple generations.)