Thorleif Pettersson

Religion and Criminality: Structural Relationships between Church Involvement and Crime Rates in Contemporary Sweden

Religion and criminality : Structural relationships between church involvement and crime rates in contemporary Sweden

Measuring and Mapping Cultures

Based on the data from the European and World Values Studies, this volume discuss basic theoretical and methodological issues of value research and focus on some the most basic processes of value change: cultural globalization, individualization, secularization and democratization.

The religious factor in contemporary society : The differential impact of religion on the private and public sphere in comparative perspective

This paper explores the relationships between values in the religious domain and values in other societal spheres. Starting from the general idea that the impact of religion on other domains in life has decreased, we assume 1) a differential impact of religion on the private and public domains; 2) that the impact varies between countries dependent upon the degree of secularization and the speed of secularization. Several more specific hypotheses concerning the interrelati-onships are developed and empirically tested using the data from the European Values Studies. The hypotheses are partially confirmed, but demonstrate that indeed the relationship between religion and the private domain (e.g. family) has developed differently from the relations between religion and the public areas.

Measuring Religious Attitudes Using the Semantic Differential Technique: An Application of Three-Mode Factor Analysis

In order to explore the structure of religious attitudes and possible interindividual differences 120 Ss rated six religious concepts on 60 semantic differential bipolar scales. The results of a threemode factor analysis indicated six interpretable factors among items: a general evaluative factor, a specific evaluative factor, a traditional Christian factor, a traditional pietistic factor, an activity factor, and a familiarity factor. Two person mode factors demonstrated a difference among respondents who classified themselves as Christians, Christians with reservations, and nonChristians. These factors were interpreted as an affective untraditional and a cognitive traditional factor. Three concept mode factors were tentatively interpreted as factors relating to the persons in the Deity, describing the continuum religious-non-religious, and reflecting the variable human religious behavior contra divine action, respectively. The relationships between the modes were examined.

The Religious Factor in Contemporary Society

This paper explores the relationships between values in the religious domain and values in other societal spheres. Starting from the general idea that the impact of religion on other domains in life has decreased, we assume 1) a differential impact of religion on the private and public domains; 2) that the impact varies between countries dependent upon the degree of secularization and the speed of secularization. Several more specific hypotheses concerning the interrelationships are developed and empirically tested using the data from the European Values Studies. The hypotheses are partially confirmed, but demonstrate that indeed the relationship between religion and the private domain (e.g., family) has developed differently from the relations between religion and the public areas.

Denominational Pluralism and Chur Ch Membership in Contemporary Sweden

Recent theoretical developments within the sociology of religion assume a positive relationship between religious pluralism and religious participation. The relationship is explained by rational choice theory, which suggests that the more competition churches face, the more likely they are to adapt their services to the demands of their potential members and participants. Such market adaptation is expected to result in a diversified supply of religious services and hence to increase the likelihood that consumers can find a religious suply well adapted to their individual tastes. In order to overcome the weaknesses of previous cross-sectional analyses, this study investigates whether increases in denominational pluralism are followed by the theoretically expected increases in denominational membership. The results for the free church sector of 269 Swedish municipalitites show that, other things equal, increases in free church pluralism led to a comparatively better development of free church membership. The effect of the increases in religous pluralism was particularily evident where the level of free church pluralism was relatively low at the beginning of the period under study.

Religion und Politik in der zeitgenössischen Gesellschaft: Differenzierung oder Entdifferenzierung? Eine komparative Analyse von EVS/WVS-Umfragedaten aus 38 Ländern

Sowohl Religion als auch Politik sind bekanntermasen schwer zu definieren. Es ist vieles uber die wichtigsten Merkmale dieser zwei fundamentalen Dimensionen des sozialen Lebens geschrieben worden. Ein gemeinsamer Nenner ist dabei allerdings, dass in der Sphare der Religion Menschen auf ubernaturliche Krafte angewiesen sind, wahrend in der politischen Sphare Menschen selbst regieren. Offensichtlich halt dieser Unterschied politische Belange ebenso wenig davon ab, im religiosen Raum zu operieren, wie religiose Uberzeugungen davon, die Politik zu beeinflussen. Die Untersuchung dieser Umstande ist sowohl fur die Religionsforschung als auch fur die Politikwissenschaft von grostem Interesse.

Morality and Religion: a Weakened Relationship?1

According to the secularization theory, Western societies have witnessed a gradual but steady decline in religiosity and its impact on society, both in the public and the private realms. It is assumed that previously religion and morality were closely connected. The processes of individualization and secularization have induced a weakening of these strong ties. Since individualization and secularization did not proceed uniformly in all Western countries, partly caused by differences in social, economic and political histories and circumstances, imposing different constraints, the receipt of individualization and secularization met with different obstacles. Therefore (large) cross-national differences in the degree of religious involvement and religions impact on other social values are to be expected. Using the survey data from the European Values Studies, fielded in 1981 and 1990, hypotheses on increasing internal and external value differentiation or value fragmentation are investigated. Internal value differentiation refers to the degree of heterogeneity within a given value dimension; external value differentiation refers to the relationships between different value dimensions. In other words, the article asks what is true of the idea that religion and morality concerning sexual issues and ethical behaviours have become differentiated, fragmented value domains? Cross-national differences between Catholic, Protestant and religiously mixed countries are further explored in the article.

Is there a Gap between the Church and the People? : Interviews with Parishioners and Ministers in the Stockholm District

Twenty-four parishioners and 24 ministers of the Church of Sweden were interviewed concerning their beliefs about religion, the Church and ecclesiastic activities. The results showed that ministers ...