Economics of religion

The theory of religious economy is the application of rational choice theory as a theory of religion. The Theory of Religious Economy argues that economic factors have a significant role in the development and success of organized religions. A religious economy consists of a market (or demand for religion) and a supply of different religious organizations. According to the theory, religious pluralism gives the population a wide variety of choices in religion and leads to a religious economy in which different religious organizations compete for followers, much the way businesses compete for consumers in a commercial economy. Major proponents of the theory include the American sociologist Rodney Stark, William Sims Bainbridge, American economist Laurence Iannaccone, R. Stephen Warner, and Roger Finke.

Development

The theory of religious economy arises from the application of fundamental principles of economics to the analysis of religious organizations.

Market situation

As in economics, the market situation can be distinguished as:

• Monopoly: Monopolies in religeon are only made possible through state enforcement and often function on a public scale. When the government establishes a set religeon and all other competition is drowned out then "believers are culturally connected but not necessarily spiritually"(Andrew Chestnut) to the religeon enforced by the state. As a monoply religeons are not forced to provide adequate or marketable "religious products"(Chestnut), due to lack of competition, therefore participation in that religeon is not as important because the church does not have to rely on members for resources.
• Disestablishment: Some states may categorically ban religious observances, and attempt to sanction those who persist in displaying religious conviction. Disestablishmentarianism results from state withdrawal from an organization that was originally established under the state.
• Religious Pluralism: In a free market, or pluralistic religious market, many religious organizations exist and seek to appeal to certain segments of the market. Organizations in a free market cannot rely on the state for resources so they must compete for participation of the religeous consumer. Contest among religeous firms results in the specialization of products so that consumers are able to distinguish different organization from others(Chestnut). Pluralistic religeons operate on a personal scale, marketing more to individual demands as opposed to public. As the majority of the consumer market, organizations market more to women than men. Pluralism is only possible through lack of favortism by the state.(Chestnut)

--Go Ji Spring 2008 (talk) 15:27, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Influencing the religious consumer

Theorists argue that, much as a grocery store sells food, religious groups attempt to "sell" beliefs and ideas. They attempt to influence the religious 'consumer' to choose their product. Two important ways to influence believers are morals and fear.

Morals

Morals are the concept of right and wrong. Moral communities are groups within the religious communities in which there is a very high agreement on norms and strong bonds of attachment among members. Moral behaviors of individuals are influenced by their religious commitments only in societies where the dominant organizations give clear and consistent expression to divine moral imperatives.

Fear

According to W. Robertson Smith, "The fear of the gods was a motive to enforce the laws of society which were also the laws of morality". People are taught that those who believe will gain rewards or avoid punishment in the afterlife, and non-believers will miss out on the rewards or receive punishment.

Major debates

Secularization

Main article: secularization

Prior to the emergence of the theory of religious economy many scholars of religion believed that modernization would lead inevitably to the erosion of religiosity. Many sociologists have predicted the disappearance of religion from Earth, based on the decline in religious belief and observance in Western Europe. The United States has been an exception to this trend. According to the theory of religious economy, societies that restrict supply of religion, either through an imposed state religious monopoly, or through state sponsored secularization are the main causes of drops in religiosity. Correspondingly, the more religions in societies are, the more likely the population is to be religious.

Revival

Another aspect of religious change according to Rodney Stark which coincides with secularization. Over time powerful religious groups will break up into smaller and less worldly sub groups of the faith. This trend of revival sheds light on the question as to why religion never seems to fade away and to why previously prominent religious organizations have dissipated. Revival shows a shift in what religious groups a population will follow and proves against the demise of religion.

Cults

Unlike a sect which follows traditions from its parent religion a cult presents completely new religious traditions. Cult is simply another word for a new religion and all current religions at one point could have been considered cult movements. The negative connotations on the word cult has lead to hostility between these movements and their social environments. Rodney Stark defines the two reactions from secularization being revival and cult formation. As old faiths eventually weaken the rise of different religious sects and cults will prevail.

Growth of strict religions

A set of famous papers in religious economy have spurred debate on how and why new religious groups might be differentially growing depending on the strictness of the doctrine to which adherents are obligated. Why are strict groups growing in popularity in US and around the world? Are less strict groups in decline, or are they simply later in their organizational and demographic life cycles?

Religion in the U.S. compared to other nations

Different nations vary in religions, the diversity, as well as the influence on society. The majority of people are religious even though data shows that many people are not. People who say that they are not religious see the question being asked, “Are you especially religious?” But, they are adequately religious. They don’t regard themselves as atheists. For instance, atheism is not common in most countries. One of the few countries that atheism is common in is China. About 24 percent of the Chinese population claim to be “convinced atheists.” Atheism in China is researched to be a result from Communism which stresses atheism. But, one can not put a title on China as the “atheist country.” "We cannot assume that all Arabs are Muslims, all Chinese Buddhists, all Indians Hindus, or all Europeans Christians." This shows that there is a great amount of diversity in religions on cultures.

"Religions explain why certain norms exist, why they are right, and why they must be obeyed.” Moral behaviors of individuals are suggested by religious loyalties only in societies where the dominant religious congregations give clear rules to follow moral actions. In US and Europe, the gods are conceived as powerful and judgmental whereas in Japan and China, they are conceived as many, small, and not particularly interested in moral behavior. Therefore, religion is unrelated to moral actions.

The United States is extremely diverse with high levels of religious participation. The United States contains a high amount of religious pluralism. Americans tend to contribute more money to the church compared to other countries. There are an estimated 15,000 denominations in the United States. What makes the United States unusual is that it is an extremely free religious economy. Americans are able be free in their religious preferences and beliefs. As far as the diversity of followers geographically, church membership and attendance in the Western United States is lower than the other states.

The United States compared to other countries is much more diverse. America is comparable to Canada. Church membership is relatively high in both countries. Canada is estimated about 61 percent and the United States reported 63 percent. Canada does not have as much religious pluralism as the United States with only a little over 200 denominations existing compared the 15,000 in America. The United States continues to grow in conservative religions whereas Canada is slowly increasing. As far as Europe compares to the U.S., church attendance in Europe is far less. For example, in Iceland and Denmark, weekly church turnout is less than 4 percent and only 6 percent in Sweden. Also, Europe is much more involved in cult movements than the United States. Europe has about twice the amount of cults.

Latin America is becoming increasingly more Protestant. There are 22 percent Protestant congregations in Chile, 20 percent in Guatemala, and 16 percent in Brazil. With this rapid growth, it is estimated that the Protestant religion will be the majority in Latin America in the next twenty years. The government has not been moving against non-Catholics anymore which leaves an open door for religious pluralism to build in Latin America.

Russia and Eastern Europe has collectively been trying to move towards atheism. The cause of this may be from the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as the communist government inflicted by the Russian army at the end of WWII. The communists strived to wipe out all traces of religions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. As a result of this wipe out, there are only about 5,000 religious congregations of all faiths still in the Soviet Union. This is about the size of Kentucky. Even though the communist government thinks they have succeeded in destroying religion in their nation, research and data have concluded that atheists are few and far in between in Russia and Eastern Europe. The majority of people claim themselves as being religious. Russia and Eastern Europe is currently underway to revive their religious economy.

--Finn kat spring2008 (talk) 23:35, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Current research

Graeme Lang, Selina Ching Chan, and Lars Ragvald

In their paper "Temples and The Religious Economy", Graeme Lang, Selina Ching Chan, and Lars Ragvald describe research done between the 1980s and 2004 in eight different temples in China. They came to the conclusion that Temples are an "active player" in the religious economy of China. Many people chose their religion and where they practice it based on the way the Temples look and how many people attend those temples. The bigger and more festive the Temple, the more likely people were to attend and the more likely they were to attend multiple times.

R. Andrew Chestnut

In his paper "Witches, Wailers, And Welfare:The Religious Economy of Funerary Culture and Witchcraft in Latin America", R. Andrew Chestnut, a professor of Latin American History at the University of Houston, discusses relations between Latin American States and the Catholic Church. He also takes a closer look at current religious research done by scientists Brusco, Mariz, Burdick and Drogus. He discusses the current religious pluralism in the Latin American states and how the Catholic church overlooks many of the Latin American people's practicing faiths. According to Chestnut, Latin America is a great example of religious economy because religious enterprises in Latin American vie with each other for spiritual consumers.

Christopher D. Bader and William H. Lockhart

In their paper "Spiritual Shopping: The Effects of State-Level Demographics and Religious Economies on the Locations of Psychics, Astrologers, and Christian Bookstores", Christopher D. Bader and William H. Lockhart discuss whether Christian bookstores are a part of religious economy or if they are another level of a consumption good. They conclude that both sides of the proposition are possible and it is too early in the time period to come to a definite conclusion.

References

Works cited and further reading

• Stark, Rodney (2007). Sociology (10th Edition ed.). Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN 0-495-09344-0. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Finke and Stark, Roger and Rodney (2005). The Churching of America,1776-2005:Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-813-53553-0.
• Bankston, Carl L. Rationality, Choice and the Religious Economy: The Problem of Belief. 2002. 27 Sep. 2007.[1]
• Gill, Anthony. Religion and Comparative Politics. June 2001. 27 Sep. 2007 [2]
• Ruf, Henry. World Religions in a Postmodern Age year= 2007. Paragon House. ISBN 978-1-55778-866-5. {{cite book}}: Missing pipe in: |title= (help)
• Smart, Ninian (1998). The World’s Religions (2nd Edition ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63139-4. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Ruf, Henry L. World Religions in a Postmodern Age. St. Paul, Minnesota: Paragon House, 2007.
• Wortham, Robert A. Religious Choices and Preferences: North Carolina's Baskin Robbins Effect? 2004. 27 Sep. 2007. [3]
• Chestnut, Andrew. Competitive Spirits: Latin America's New Religeous Economy. Oxford University Press. 2007.
• Finke, R. (2008). Is the 'clash of civilizations' really true? The 'religious economy' is a better explanation. Retrieved May 30, 2008, from http://socialissues.wiseto.com/Articles/173101542/?page=2

External links

• Shopping for Faith or Dropping Your Faith? The Rational Choice Theory of why religious vitality varies between societies, and its relationship to the Secularization Thesis (May 2005)