National Context, Parental Socialization, and Religious Belief in 38 Nations as of 2008: The End of National Exceptionalism?

Polish Sociological Review, 2015 Forthcoming

23 Pages Posted: 15 Sep 2015

See all articles by Jonathan Kelley

Jonathan Kelley

International Survey Center; University of Nevada Reno - Department of Sociology

Date Written: September 14, 2015

Abstract

Late in the 20th century, previous research found that (1) people living in religious nations will, in proportion to the religiosity of their fellow-citizens, acquire more orthodox beliefs than otherwise similar people living in secular nations; (2a) in relatively secular nations, family religiosity strongly shapes children's religious beliefs, while the influence of national religious context is small; (2b) in relatively religious nations family religiosity, although important, has less effect on children's beliefs than does national context; (3) the USA was exceptional, being more religious than other nations at its high level of economic development, and (4) formerly Communist nations in East-Central Europe were also exceptional, being less devout than Western nations. This paper tests whether these patterns still hold in more recent times. Almost two decades later most do still hold, and strongly so. But few nations are any longer noticeably exceptional: after adjusting for demographic differences, parents' devoutness, and the strong impact of national context, the USA is only fractionally more devout than comparable nations. East-Central Europe now hardly differs from the West. Poland – as devout as the USA without adjustments – is fractionally less devout than comparable nations after these adjustments. Data are from 38 nations and over 50000 respondents, analyzed by multi-level methods.

Keywords: Religion, religious beliefs, devout, secularization, parental socialization, cross-cultural, national context, US exceptionalism, Poland, Communism

JEL Classification: Z10

Suggested Citation

Kelley, Jonathan, National Context, Parental Socialization, and Religious Belief in 38 Nations as of 2008: The End of National Exceptionalism? (September 14, 2015). Polish Sociological Review, 2015 Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2660342

Jonathan Kelley (Contact Author)

International Survey Center ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.international-survey.org

University of Nevada Reno - Department of Sociology ( email )

United States

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