Merlin B. Brinkerhoff

Casting off the bonds of organized religion: a religious-careers approach to the study of apostasy

This study proposes that apostasy be conceptualized as process of disengagement from two major elements of religion: belief and community. A typology of religious careers was developed to approximate the dynamics of apostasy through cross-sectional data. Data were derived from self-administered questionnaires from Canadian and American undergraduates. The career types Apostates, Switchers, Converts and Stalwarts were compared in terms of origins, reported early family experiences, persistence of beliefs and sources doubt. Finally, the consequences of apostasy - happiness, life-satisfactions, self-esteem, socio-political attitudes, gender traditionalism - were analyzed

Religious Denominations' Impact upon Gender Attitudes: Some Methodological Implications

Four alternative classifications of religious denomination, a typology of Religious Careers and Attendance are examined for their effects on two criterion variables, a Gender Attitude Scale constructed through factor analysis and Attitude toward Abortion, for a random sample of 464 adults in a Western Canadian city. Overall, Current Denomination, categorized by specific group, is the strongest predictor of these criterion variables. Multivariate techniques illustrate the relationships are not due to factors such as sex, age, and education; furthermore, denomination, the typology, and attendance tend to be more strongly correlated to gender attitudes than age or education. As much as 22.5 percent of the variance in the criterion variables is accounted for byfour factors-denomination, attendance, education, and age.

Differential Childlessness by Color: The Destruction of a Cultural Belief

This study treats the relationship of childlessness and color. There is a general cultural belief in the United States that indicates a higher amount of childlessness for white couples as compared with nonwhite couples. This belief was tested by using data from the 1960 United States Census. A five-percent sample of women, aged 35 to 54 years, indicates that the percentage of childless couples is much higher among nonwhite couples even under various controls which were employed. The data do not support but are contrary to the general belief.

Mindfulness and quasi-religious meaning systems : An empirical exploration within the context of ecological sustainability and deep ecology

Contextualizing the back-to-the-land experience with mindfulness, a variant of meditative phenomena, within deep ecologys contention that humankind requires a fundamental shift in consciousness in order to insure ecological sustainability, this study compares and contrasts those variables that explain variance in mindfulness, operationalized as a quasi-religious indicator, with those that explain variance in church attendance, a measure of formal religious behavior. Drawing on a national sample for a mailed questionnaire survey of back-to-the-landers, the study found that the predictor variables for mindfulness share little overlap with those that explain variance for church attendance. The exception is spiritual mindedness, itself a quasi-religious measure, which has a statistically significant relationship with both mindfulness and church attendance. The data suggest, then, that the religious and the quasi-religious are relatively independent spheres of human behavior and sentiment. It would appear, consequently, at least in terms of the back-to-the-land sample and the assumptions of deep ecology, that the adherents of organized religion are not as likely to be disposed towards ecologically sustainable frames of mind as those who center their spirituality on quasi-religious practices such as mindfulness.

Racial, ethnic and religious social distance in Surinam: An exploration of the ‘strategic alliance hypothesis’ in a Caribbean community

Abstract The poly‐ethnic Caribbean can be seen as a laboratory for the study of the evolution of inter‐ and intra‐ethnic relationships. Using the Caribbean experience as context, the present study begins by focusing on the dynamics of Muslim‐Hindu relations in Surinam and then extends its analysis to South Asian‐Creole relations. Building on the work of van der Burg and van der Veer (1986), the study develops and examines a ‘strategic alliance hypothesis’: that Hindus and Muslims have avoided overt conflict in their Surinamese homeland in order to advance their common interests against the countrys other major ethnic groups, and, by extension, South Asians have joined multi‐ethnic coalitions to advance these same interests. To explore these strategic alliance hypotheses, 376 secondary‐school students in western Surinam were administered a modified Bogardus (1925) social distance scale in order to measure the degree of reciprocal tolerance that the samples respondents expressed towards Surinams prominen...

When Proselytizing Fails: An Organizational Analysis

The authors assert that an adequate understanding of religious proselytizing requires an understanding not only of the converts but also of organizational attempts to recruit them. Maintaining that the proselytizing of outsiders requires contact, bridging, and assimilation mechanisms, they examine the evangelistic efforts and results of 20 proselyte-minded Canadian churches over a five-year period. They find little evidence in evangelistic programs for the existence of such mechanisms f or reaching outsiders. M oreover, new convert members are f ound to be primarily family members, friends, and people from other churches. They conclude that in spite of the apparent failure to proselytize many outsiders, the organizational mechanisms may continue to persist because of the latent functions they serve.

Structural Changes and Suicide in Canada

THERE ARE TWO basic perspectives in the study of suicide: (1) differentiating suicide rates among territories, social groups, or some other type of aggregate, and (2) differentiating among suicide victims and others. Both perspectives have concentrated on explaining the differences characterizing the units in question. Why do some territories (Sweden and Hungary) or social groups (males, single persons, Protestants, and police) have high suicide rates, while others have comparatively low rates (Mexico, Ireland, females, married persons, Catholics, and ministers) ? Are suicide victims more likely to be characterized by mental illness, physical disorders, an authoritarian personality, or higher than average intelligence? What distinguishes groups with high suicide rates from those with low rates? What distinguishes individuals who commit suicide from those who do not? a

Trafficking among youth in conflict with the law in São Paulo, Brazil

BackgroundEngagement in drug trafficking may place a child or youth at risk for exposure to severe violence, drug abuse, and death. However, little is know about the nature of youth involvement in drug trafficking. The purpose of this study is to describe drug trafficking behaviour of delinquent youth and identify adverse experiences as potential predictors of trafficking.MethodsCross-sectional sample of youth (12–17 years of age) incarcerated in detention facilities for delinquent or criminal acts in São Paulo City, Brazil. Structured face-to-face interviews completed with 325 youth (289 boys, 36 girls).ResultsApproximately half of the boys and girls in this sample have had at least some role in drug trafficking prior to incarceration. Though youth who had engaged in drug trafficking activities did not differ on basic socio-demographic variables, they were more likely to have been exposed to a number of adverse experiences. Beyond heavy substance use, no longer attending school, gang involvement, witnessing violence, and easier access to guns, drugs and alcohol remained significantly related to trafficking involvement in the final regression model. Girls experienced a very similar pattern of adverse exposures as boys.ConclusionSpecial efforts may be required for rehabilitation of youth who engage in drug trafficking. Potential targets may include keeping or re-engaging delinquent youth in school for longer periods of time and reducing youth exposure to violence in poor urban communities.

Values, Performance and Subjective Well-Being in the Sustainability Movement: An Elaboration of Multiple Discrepancies Theory

Building on multiple discrepancies theory (MDT) as developed by Michalos (1985, 1991), the present study seeks to extend the application of MDT by operationalizing multiple discrepancies or “gaps” between values and performance for a representative group from the sustainability movement (back-to-the-landers), and then comparing the ability of the operationalized discrepancies, in competition with a series of demographic and process variables, to explain variance in a set of subjective well-being (SWB) measures. In the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and zero-order correlation equations, the value-performance discrepancies demonstrate consistent statistically significant relationships with the SWB measures. In the multiple regression models, however, the gap variables are not as prominent as other process variables, although they do add variance to SWB, validating the general utility of MDT. It appears, though, that there are other dimensions, many of them specific to the back-to-the-land way of life, that can compensate for the discrepancies between values and performance.

Quality of life in an alternative lifestyle: The smallholding movement

While the notion of alternative lifestyle usually evokes the stereotype of groups or individuals who live on the margin of the socially acceptable, the focus of this study, the smallholding movement, is a description and analysis of individuals whose alternative lifestyle is grounded in traditional values through the return to semi-subsistence agriculture on small parcels of land. The analysis operationalizes five quality of life (QoL) indicators and then through zero-order correlations and step-wise regression, attempts to predict the correlates of QoL. Prominent in the study are six value scales that are intended to capture the central concerns of the smallholding movement. The value scales, however, were relatively weak predictors of general QoL, while the actual lived experience of smallholding (community approval, employment of alternative technology) were relatively good predictors. In reference to specific satisfaction with smallholding as a way of life, however, values did become relatively good predictors of QoL. Notable by their absence as predictors of either general or specific QoL were urban based status factors such as education, occupation, and income, even though the small-holders themselves possess relatively high educational and income levels, and are employed in professional and technical occupations.