Title: Changing Faith: The Dynamics and Consequences of Americans’ Shifting Religious Identities
Abstract:Changing Faith is a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the changes in religiosity that have occurred over the last 40 years in the United States. The book opens with a discussion of the history an...Changing Faith is a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the changes in religiosity that have occurred over the last 40 years in the United States. The book opens with a discussion of the history and makeup of religion in the United States, tackles issues surrounding religious identification, and details religious switching and religious evolution. The book then focuses on how religiosity and ethnicity influence a variety of topics such as family formation and structure, education, income, and political issues. The primary theoretical argument of the book is that the two predominant grand theories in the sociology of religion—religious economies/rational choice theory and secularization theory—have a difficult time explaining the religious makeup and evolution of the United States. Instead, Changing Faith focuses on the importance of socialization, demographic indicators, and ethnicity in explaining the diversity and shifts in the religious marketplace. There is a lot to like about this book. Sherkat is a master at slicing and dicing the General Social Survey (GSS). Readers will come away from this book as well informed about the religious makeup of the United States as one probably can be with the GSS. Several of the chapters are comprehensive and insightful summaries of important features of the American religious landscape. Chapters 2 and 3 present compelling evidence for the decline in religiosity that has occurred in the United States over the last 40 years. Chapter 4 shows very clearly that early marriage and premarital abstinence are not beneficial for families. Chapter 5 compellingly illustrates that religion matters a lot when it comes to racism in the United States by exposing much more racist attitudes among some religious groups than among other groups.Read More
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-08-06
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 20
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot