Don't Lose Control: How Partisanship and the Political Landscape Shape Religious Beliefs
Year: 2014
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: In the United States, religion and politics are tightly intertwined. While the emphasis to date has been on how religious beliefs shape political leanings, political scientists have started to look at how political attitudes – like partisanship – shape religious beliefs and practices. I build on this latter strand of research by exploring how the political landscape shapes partisans’ experiences with religion. Drawing on the psychological theory of compensatory control, I show that partisans’ reported religious behaviors fluctuate in systematic ways with the political fortunes of their party. Across two distinct samples and analytic strategies, I find that Democrats (Republicans) are more likely to report attending religious services and praying when the Republicans (Democrats) control the White House, and these rates of participation drop when a copartisan is president. Elections do not just produce shifts in the political landscape; they also reverberate in the religious sphere.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Michele F. Margolis
Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W190112741