Women of the Pew:
Mobilizing Civic and Religious Capital
Session C-1, Thematic Session: The Political Capital of People of Faith
Association for the Sociology of Religion Annual Meeting 2005
Cynthia Woolever
Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Hartford Seminary
woolever@hartsem.edu
[www.USCongregations.org]
Women differ from men in their level of church participation and civic involvement. A description of female worshipers across a national random sample of U.S. congregations revealed these patterns. Individual-level demographic factors and religious involvement exhibited significant correlations with civic engagement, thus, supporting the theory that congregations generate social capital. However, several demographic characteristics (e.g., age, education) showed a more significant relationship to women’s civic involvement than did religious involvement measures. Analyses confirmed modest congregational effects on individual civic engagement, including denomination (reflecting theological differences) and highly mobilized worshipers (a “social contagion” effect). Mainline Protestant congregations and highly mobilized congregations contributed to higher levels of civic engagement by female worshipers independent of their individual characteristics.
Congregational Characteristics:
Denomination
Size
Income (average and heterogeneity)
Education (average and heterogeneity)
Race (heterogeneity)
Density of social networks (number or percentage of close friends)
Leadership style of key leader (participatory)
Other Congregational Characteristics:
Norms of civic engagement in congregation (“contagion effect”)
% voting
% contact with officials
% working on community problems
% involved in community social service, charity groups
% involved in community advocacy, justice, lobbying groups
Factors affecting norms of congregation
Average age
Average income
Average education
Theology of congregation
Relativism (% agreeing with relativist position)
Literalism (% agreeing with literal interpretation of the Bible)
Development of Civic Skills
Involved in decision-making (% participating)
Geographic Context
14-indicator Social Capital Index (Putnam 2000)
Urban vs. Rural
Works cited:
Philip Schwadel, “Testing the Promise of Churches: Income Inequality in the Opportunity to Learn Civic Skills in Christian Congregations,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41:3 (2002) 565-575.
_____________, “Individual, Congregational, and Denominational Effects on Church Members’ Civic Participation,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44:2 (2005) 159-171.
Matthew Loveland, “Civic Congregations: Congregational Dynamics and Individual Civic Involvement,” Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Sociology, Notre Dame, June 2005.
Matthew Loveland, David Sikkink, Daniel J. Myers, and Benjamin Radcliff, “Private Prayer and Civic Involvement,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44:1 (2005) 1-14.
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