Religious Economy

Religious economy refers to the landscape of religious options available within a society, akin to a marketplace where different religions compete for followers. This concept suggests that religious pluralism—where multiple faiths coexist—can enhance individual interest in religion, as people are more likely to identify with a belief system that resonates with them when diverse options are presented. The theory posits that in societies with limited religious choices, individuals may disengage from religion altogether, but as more alternatives emerge, participation rates can increase.

Researchers typically examine religious economies through controlled studies that analyze the effects of introducing more religious choices or by studying historical trends in societies that have experienced shifts in religious availability. While the theory has garnered some support, it faces challenges, including difficulties in establishing causation between pluralism and participation. Additionally, some studies have questioned the validity of the relationship suggested by religious economy theory, indicating that other variables may influence religious engagement. Overall, religious economy provides a framework for understanding how the variety of religious options can impact individual religious participation in increasingly pluralistic societies.

Published in: 2021

By: Wienclaw, Ruth A.

Subject Terms

Religious Economy

Religious economy refers to the variety of religious options or choices that are available within a society. According to the theory of religious economy, religious pluralism results in a situation in which religions and religious organizations must compete for adherents in much the same was as businesses compete for consumers within a commercial economy. Typically, the theory of religious economies is tested in one of two ways. The first approach focuses on controlled religious economies (in which there is little religious pluralism) and observes what happens when more options become available. The second approach is historical in nature and analyzes what has happened in the past when individuals were given various options for religious choice. Although the research shows some support for the religious economies model, it is not without difficulties. There are a number of other factors that need to be considered in order to truly understand the complex relationship between religious pluralism and religious participation. Studies in this area are often correlational in nature and inappropriately attempt to infer causation from correlation.

Keywords Correlation; Denomination; Doctrine; Globalization; Persecution; Postmodernism; Religiosity; Religious Economy; Religious Pluralism; Secularization; Syncretism

Sociology of Religion > Religious Economy

Overview

Historically, one's choice of religion was often restricted geographically, and in many societies, one could predict the religious preference of an individual based on the person's origin. In Germany, for example, Bavarians were historically more likely to be Roman Catholics, whereas northern Germans were more likely to be Lutherans. Iraqis tend to be Muslim; Americans tend to be Christians; and Indians tend to be Hindus. There is, however, an increasing amount of religious pluralism in many societies. Although some societies tend to be insulated from a religious perspective and are intolerant of or even persecute members of other religions, more and more diversity is not only permitted but is taken for granted in many societies. With globalization of businesses and the relative ease of travel, religious pluralism is becoming more the rule than the exception. Within a thirty-minute drive from many American homes one can find not only Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, but also Islamic mosques, Buddhist temples, and a wide variety of other houses of worship and religious organizations. Even within some of these groups there is religious diversity; various Protestant churches run the gamut from conservative and right-wing to ultra liberal. Those wishing to find a house of worship have a great deal of variety from which to choose. Further, choice of religion is not necessarily even a one-time choice in today's postmodern society. If one does not like the doctrine or practices of one religion or denomination, one can easily leave and try another.

Religious Economy Theory

Religious economy refers to the variety of religious options or choices available within a society. According to the theory of religious economy, religious pluralism results in a situation in which religions and religious organizations must compete for adherents in much the same way as businesses compete for consumers within a commercial economy. Sociologists studying the concept of religious economies look not at the religions and beliefs of individuals within society, but at the society as a whole. As opposed to secularization theory, the theory of religious economies postulates that individuals within society are very interested in religion and in making a choice between their options in the religious marketplace. In addition, the theory of religious economy postulates that the more religious options that are available to individuals within a society, the more interested individuals will be in participating in a religious option. For example, in a society that has only one religious option, individuals can either choose to participate in that religion or not participate in religion at all. However, when individuals are given more religious options (e.g., Roman Catholic or Protestant), those who choose not to participate in religion when only one option was available may choose to participate when there is an alternative. As the alternatives for religion increase in the religious marketplace, the theory of religious economy predicts that an increasing number of people will become interested in religion because there are more choices available and this range of choices is more likely to contain one that meets their needs (Stockard, 2000).

Typically, the theory of religious economies is tested in one of two ways. The first approach focuses on controlled religious economies in which there is little religious pluralism, and observes what happens when more options become available. The second approach analyzes historical data to determine what has happened in the past when individuals are given options for religious choice. This latter approach typically examines the religious pluralism occurring in the United States. Research into each of these paradigms tends to demonstrate that the more options one has within a religious economy, the more likely people are to identify with a religion.

Controlled Religious Economy in Europe

Stockard (2000) has identified two kinds of controlled religious economies. The first of these comprises centrally controlled churches that are officially sanctioned by the government. Examples of this kind of religious economy exist in a number of European countries where Roman Catholicism is the state-approved religion. Countries falling into this category include Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, and Spain. Similarly, the Church of England is the state approved religion in that country. In Sweden, for example, the state church is the Evangelical Lutheran Church which is actually part of the government. Swedish nationals are automatically enrolled as members in the Evangelical Lutheran Church unless neither of their parents was a member or they officially request to opt out. In a concept foreign to most Americans, the Swedish government institutes church law, appoints bishops, pays pastors, and funds the construction of church buildings. In order to do these things, every Swedish citizen — whether or not s/he belongs to the church — supports the church through taxes. With such high enrollment in church membership, it might be reasonable to expect that attendance at church services would be high. The theory of religious economies, however, predicts just the opposite. In this case, this theory is proven to be true. Despite the fact that the Church of Sweden has large staffs and huge cathedrals, very few people attend services. Other religious groups have become more prevalent in Sweden. As predicted by religious economies theory, a small but significant proportion of people not previously attending church has since identified themselves with these new religious options. Further, not only are an increasing number of people associating themselves with religion, approximate 75 percent of these individuals attend services regularly. In other words, the wider the variety and the more the options available on the religious economy, the more people participate in religion. Similar trends can be observed in other places in the world (e.g., Latin America).

The second type of controlled religious economies involves situations in which the government attempts to eliminate religious beliefs. Examples of this kind of change in religious economy occurred after the fall of communism in countries belonging to the former Soviet states. For example, historically, the Russian Orthodox Church was the state-sponsored religion in Russia, funding churches, clergy, convents, and monasteries. Following Marxist doctrine, the new political regime attempted to systematically eliminate religious organizations and symbols. During the Stalinist era, the number of churches in Russia decreased to only a tenth of what they had been before the Russian Revolution. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many former republics once again became independent countries. Research and religiosity in Russia typically shows between 50 and 75 percent of Russians once again admit to believing in God. In fact, research has shown that nearly 25 percent of the Russians who once called themselves atheists state that they believe in God (Stockard, 2000).

History of Religious Economy in the United States

The other approach to investigating the theory of religious economies uses historical data regarding changes in the pluralistic religious economy of the United States. In the early years of the United States, several states had state-supported religions. For example, in colonial America, the Congregationalist church received tax money in New England and the Episcopal Church was legally sanctioned in the Carolinas, Georgia, Maryland, New York, and Virginia. However, analysis of historical records of the time has found that only approximately 17 percent of American citizens were affiliated with a church in colonial America. Since there were only 17 different denominations at the time as opposed to the approximately 200 denominations in the United States today. Further, the analysis showed that there was a steady climb in the percentage of church membership in the United States so that by 1997, approximately 67 percent of the population claimed to be church members. According to the theory of religious economies, this is due to the fact that when the range of religious choice widens, a greater percentage of people will find options that are attractive to them (Stockard, 2000).

Applications

Despite the research that has been done on the relationship between religious pluralism and various measures of religious participation, not all research supports the theory of religious economies. For example, Voas, Crockett and Olson (2002) investigated the relationship between religious pluralism and religiosity in the form of religious involvement. In particular, the researchers were interested in determining whether secularization theory (which predicts that the greater the diversity in religious options available, the less participation will be observed) or religious economies theory (which predicts that the greater the diversity religious options available, the more participation will be observed) was correct. In their study, the authors examine the review of 193 tests published in 26 articles.

In order to investigate whether the religious economies or the secularization theory reflected what was happening in the religious marketplace, the authors measured the concept of pluralism using the Herfindahl index, a measure widely used in economics to determine the concentration within a market. One of the reasons this index was used in this study is because it takes into account evenness of size. Therefore, the pluralism score on this index will be low if there are only one or two options available in the market. It will also be low if there even if there are numerous small options with which most individuals are not familiar. In this latter case, individuals will see a limited number of options because they do not know about the others. Therefore, the pluralism index will still be low. The authors used both actual and simulated data to test the theories (Voas, Crockett & Olson, 2002).

Using historical data, the authors demonstrated that the empirical approach to investigating secularization versus religious economy theories is fundamentally flawed. They pointed out that most research into the relationship between religious diversity and religious involvement makes the assumption that the association found between these two concepts is causal. However, correlation (an inferential statistic typically used to analyze research data in this area) only shows relationship, not causation. Just as it would be improper to conclude that when two clocks both strike at midnight that one clock caused the other to strike; so, too, would be improper to conclude that two sociological phenomena occurring at the same time necessarily means that one caused the other. Although the conclusion may be true, the opposite conclusion may be true or it may be that a different third factor caused the correlation to appear. Further, it may be that the correlation was spurious and the two phenomena were not, in fact, related. As Voas, Crockett and Olson point out, random variation in the sizes of various religious groups can lead to spurious correlations between the pluralism index and participation rates. The authors further conclude that this means that research using this commonly used statistic is suspect. They state that the association that is typically reported in research of this type is due not to the effects of pluralism but to an overlooked relationship between measures of religious participation and the index of pluralism. Examining the results from several frequently cited studies, the authors found the results to be similar to those that would be found due to chance alone. As a result, they conclude that based on the state of the literature at the time of the study, there is no compelling evidence to support the conclusion that religious pluralism has any affect on religious participation (Voas, Crockett & Olson, 2002).

Viewpoints

Proponents interpret such statistics to support the religious economies theory. However, it should be noted that this is not necessarily a valid conclusion. As is demonstrated by the statistics of Swedish church membership, this operational definition does not paint a fair picture of one's religiosity. Homesteads in much of colonial America were widely dispersed, and houses of worship or clergy were not as convenient or available as they are today. In addition, it has been noted that although by definition one would assume that the postmodern mentality would mean that fewer people would attend religious services; in many instances the opposite is true.

Correlation & Causation

To assume that it is the plethora of religious institutions that causes an upsurge in interest in religion rather than the opposite is not a valid assumption. Correlation does not tell one anything about causation. In addition, it must be noted that although there are technically two hundred denominations in the United States, many of these differ very little. For example, Baptists can be broken down into at least twenty-seven separate denominations, Lutherans into eleven separate denominations, Methodists into eleven separate denominations, and Presbyterians into nine separate denominations. Do Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians truly represent fifty-eight separate denominations between them or are they, in fact, really just four? Is there enough difference between the twenty-seven types of Baptists to consider them separate religions (as some of the research on religious economy does), or is there as much difference between churches within these subgroups as there is between the subgroups themselves? Further, can one truly count Protestant denominations as being that much different from Catholic denominations, or should they all be considered together for research purposes, under the general classification of Christian versus other major (or minor) world religions?

Further, despite the results of such studies, not all statistics on church membership support religious economies theory. For example, during the period from 1960 through 1990, some denominations (e.g., Disciples of Christ, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians) declined in membership whereas other groups (e.g., Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ, Southern Baptists) showed phenomenal growth. The statistics show similar fluctuations that are not predicted by religious economies theory during other periods in history. These are a number of questions that need to be answered before one can truly interpret the results of studies on religious economies (Stockard, 2000).

Syncretism

Another interesting research question related to the theory of religious economies and the secularization of religions is the issue is syncretism. This is the fusing of two or more different religious or philosophic belief systems, particularly when the end result is heterogeneity and loss of unique identity of the original systems. Concerns over syncretism tend to occur when different religions coexist in a market of religious pluralism. On one hand, the variety of religious options may make religion in general more attractive to more individuals because they are more likely to find a religion that better expresses their own beliefs and inclinations than if there are fewer options available. However, many major religions believe that they are the sole possessor of truth. As a result, they see little or no difference between individuals choosing other religious options and those who choose no religion at all. Further, when there is more religious pluralism in a society, there is often the fear that the doctrines and tenets of a religion will be watered down by other religions that are not the possessors of the complete Truth.

Conclusion

Religious economies theory is one potential explanation for the often observed positive relationship between the availability of more religious options and increased percentages of individuals who participate in religious activities. However, religious economies theory does not necessarily explain all the observed data and may even make unwarranted assumptions in the interpretation of the data. There are many other factors that may cause the relationship between religious pluralism and religious participation. Further research is needed to take all these considerations into account and test the validity not only of religious economies theory but also of competing theories that attempt to explain the data.

Terms & Concepts

Correlation: The degree to which two events or variables are consistently related. Correlation may be positive (i.e., as the value of one variable increases the value of the other variable increases), negative (i.e., as the value of one variable increases the value of the other variable decreases), or zero (i.e., the values of the two variables are unrelated). Correlation does not imply causation.

Denomination: A large group of congregations united under a common statement of faith and organized under a single legal and administrative hierarchy. Many individual congregations include the name of their denomination in the title of their church (e.g., First Baptist Church, St. Luke's Lutheran Church).

Doctrine: A principle (or body of principles) accepted or believed by a religious group.

Globalization: Globalization is the process of businesses or technologies to spread across the world. This creates an interconnected, global marketplace operating outside constraints of time zone or national boundary. Although globalization means an expanded marketplace, products are typically adapted to fit the specific needs of each locality or culture to which they are marketed.

Postmodernism: A worldview beginning in the latter half of the twentieth century that questions or rejects claims of absolute certainty and objective truth.

Religion: A personal or institutional system grounded in the belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers considered to have created and to govern the universe.

Religiosity: The quality of being religious; the intensity and consistency of one's practice of a religion. Religiosity is measured by asking about religious beliefs, measuring membership in religious organizations, and measuring attendance at religious services. The term religiosity can also be used to refer to an excessive devotion to religion.

Religious Economy: The variety of religious options or choices that is available within a society. According to the theory of religious economy, religious pluralism results in a situation in which religions and religious organizations must compete for adherents in much the same was as businesses compete for consumers within a commercial economy.

Religious Persecution: The systematic act or practice of oppressing or harassing an individual or group by mistreating them based on their religious affiliation or practices.

Religious Pluralism: The term religious pluralism has several commonly used meanings. A synonym for religious diversity, or the recognition that there are many different religions actively practiced within a country. A basic form of ecumenism in which adherents of different religions dialog and learn from each other without trying to proselytize. Acceptance that the beliefs of other religions are valid although not necessarily true.

Secularization: The process of transforming a religion to a philosophy and worldview based primarily on reason and science rather than on faith and supernatural concepts. Through the process of secularization, religious groups and activities lose their religious significance.

Syncretism: The fusing of two or more different religious or philosophic belief systems, particularly when the end result is heterogeneity and loss of unique identity of the original systems.

Bibliography

Bankston, C. L. III. (2002). Rationality, choice and the religious economy: The problem of belief. Review of Religious Research, 43 , 311-325. Retrieved 19 May 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=11909745&site=ehost-live

McKinnon, A. M. (2013). Ideology and the market metaphor in rational choice theory of religion: A rhetorical critique of ‘religious economies’. Critical Sociology (Sage Publications, Ltd.), 39, 529-543. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database SocIndex with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=88042123

Stockard, J. (2000). Sociology: Discovering society (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Voas, D., Crockett, A., & Olson, D. V. A. (2002). Religious pluralism and participation: Why previous research is wrong. American Sociological Review, 67 , 202-230. Retrieved 19 May 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=6777570&site=ehost-live

Wollschleger, J., & Beach, L. R. (2013). Religious chameleons: Exploring the social context for belonging without believing. Rationality & Society, 25, 178-197. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database SocIndex with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=87462321

Wollschleger, J., & Porter, J. (2011). A 'WalMartization' of religion? The ecological impact of megachurches on the local and extra-local religious economy. Review of Religious Research, 53, 279-299. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database SocIndex with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=67364099

Religious Economy

On this Page

Subject Terms

Religious Economy

Sociology of Religion > Religious Economy

Overview

Religious Economy Theory

Controlled Religious Economy in Europe

History of Religious Economy in the United States

Applications

Viewpoints

Correlation & Causation

Syncretism

Conclusion

Terms & Concepts

Bibliography

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