Religion und Bildungserfolg im Migrationskontext – Theoretische Argumente,empirische Befunde und offene Fragen

Religion has received extensive attention as a factor influencing immigrants’ integration. This paper examines the role of religion in explaining ethnic educational inequalities in Germany. Due to a general lack of research in this field, the paper provides an overview of existing empirical findings, specifies theoretical arguments on how religious affiliation, belief and participation possibly affect educational achievement among children of immigrants. Using data from the first wave of the “Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in four European Countries” collected in 2010/11 the paper tests key arguments on the influence of religion on the educational attainment among 14-year-old immigrant and non-immigrant students at German schools. Compared to other religious groups, Muslims display lower rates of educational achievement. However, this can be largely explained by their social background and is independent from their levels of individual religiosity. Interestingly, individual religiosity has a positive effect on the educational achievement among Protestant students, whether with or without a migration background.     

Social Reproduction of Religiosity in the Immigrant Context: The Role of Family Transmission and Family Formation — Evidence from France

This paper compares two aspects of the social reproduction of religion: parent‐to‐child transmission, and religious homogamy. Analysis of a survey of immigrants in France shows that for parent‐to‐child transmission, immigrant status/generation is not the central variable — rather, variation is across religions with Muslim families showing high continuity. Immigrant status/generation does directly matter for partner choice. In Christian and Muslim families alike, religious in‐partnering significantly declines in the second generation. In turn, the offspring of religiously non‐homogamous families is less religious. For Muslim immigrants this points to the possibility of a non‐trivial decline in religiosity in the third generation.     

The determinants of religiosity among immigrants and the native born in Europe

This paper examines differences in religious behaviors of the native born and immigrants in European countries, measured by self-reported religiosity, frequency of praying, and frequency of church attendance. Using the European Social Survey, we first show that, on average, the religiosity of immigrants is greater than that of the native born and is greater than that of the stayers in the European origins, even among those who report they have no religious affiliation. Hypotheses are tested that can explain these observations. Differences in individual characteristics, such as age, education, income, marital status, and notably religious denominations, partly account for the overall differences. Religiosity of migrants declines with duration in the destination, approaching the levels of both the native born in destination countries and of the stayers in European origin countries. Both origin and destination country characteristics affect religiosity, such as economic development, religious pluralism, religious freedom, and societal attitudes towards religion, suggesting that both economic and culture persistence and adaptation take place.     

Religiosity, denominational affiliation and sexual behaviors among people with HIV in the United States

This study sought to describe religiosity and denominational affiliation among the U.S. population living with HIV and to test whether either is associated with HIV-related sexual risk behaviors. A nationally representative sample of 1,421 people in care for HIV, 932 of whom reported recent sexual activity, was utilized. Religiosity was associated with fewer sexual partners and a lower likelihood of engaging in unprotected sex and in high-risk sex. Catholics were less likely to report unprotected sex than were other Christians, adherents of non-Christian religions, and those reporting no religious affiliation. Catholics were also less likely than other Christians to report high-risk sex and reported fewer sexual partners compared to those of non-Christian religions. We did not observe a difference between Catholics and Evangelicals in the three sexual behaviors investigated. Results suggest that religiosity and some religious teachings may promote safer sex among people with HIV.     

Religion as a Chronically Accessible Construct

Recent studies have examined religion in the context of a chronically accessible construct, one that colors how people attend to and recall information. A national survey is used to test whether religiosity and sharing the religious affiliation with a candidate is associated with more accuracy about that candidate's religion. In addition, the role of attention to the news media is examined in combination with religion. Although attention to the news is associated with more knowledge, it does not interact with religion. Overall religious variables are moderately associated with more accuracy about religion questions than nonreligion questions about political candidates.     

Children's First Names,Religiosity and Immigration Background in France

Using an index measuring the relative probability of names in different populations, our results indicate that immigrants and especially those from the Maghreb/Middle‐East give first names to their children that are different from those given by the French majority population. Though we find a correlation between religiosity and our name index for European immigrants, the differences in naming practices cannot generally be attributed to religiosity as we find no correlation between our name index and the religious practices of immigrants from the Maghreb/Middle‐East. These differences in the naming patterns are, as one would expect, related to general cultural references, language, citizenship and educational attainment.     

Deinstitutionalisierung des Religiösen und Religiöse Individualisierung in Ost- und Westdeutschland

Luckmann’s thesis of “invisible religion” which is based on religious individualization attracts great attention within the field of sociology of religion in the German speaking countries. It states that religion currently is not loosing social relevance, but that current religious changes are characterized by processes of religious individualization in which subjectively constructed, syncretistic, and non-institutionalized systems of ultimate meaning are replacing traditional Christian religious forms. Thus, the thesis contradicts the theory of secularization processes. On the basis of two surveys carried out by the authors, the paper looks for empirical evidence to support this thesis. Three dimensions of religion are distinguished: traditional church affiliation, individual Christian religiosity, and non-church religiosity. Additionally, an individualization index is constructed. The analysis shows that processes of de-institutionalization of religion can be observed, but forms of nonchurch or non-Christian religiosity do not constitute serious alternatives to church adherence and Christian religiosity. Secularization and religious individualization are not two diametrically opposed processes. The trend towards secularization is prevailing in Germany and the tendencies towards religious individualization are components of this pre-dominant trend.     

Does Selective Migration Matter? Explaining Ethnic Disparities in Educational Attainment among Immigrants’Children1

Understanding why some national‐origin groups excel in school while others do not is an enduring sociological puzzle. This paper examines whether the degree of immigrants’educational selectivity ‐ that is, how immigrants differ educationally from non‐migrants in the home country ‐ influences educational outcomes among groups of immigrants’children. This study uses published international data and U. S. Census and Current Population Survey data on 32 immigrant groups to show that as immigrants’educational selectivity increases, the college attainment of the second generation also increases. Moreover, the more positive selection of Asian immigrants helps explain their second generations’higher college attendance rates as compared to Europeans, Afro‐Caribbeans, and Latinos. Thus, the findings suggest that inequalities in relative pre‐migration educational attainments among immigrants are often reproduced among the next generation in the United States.     

CONCERN FOR GOD AND CONCERN FOR SOCIETY: RELIGIOSITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

This paper adds to the integration of sociology of religion and social stratification by bringing together work in social justice from sociology of religion and economic issues from social stratification. The research focuses on the narrower topic of attitudes toward economic justice. Specifically, it focuses on the contributions of both religiosity and religious affiliation to such attitudes. The contributions of the religious components are assessed independent of other factors identified to be important in the two areas. Using data from the 1987 panel of the General Social Survey, multiple analyses of variance reveals relatively strong structural effects but no relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward economic justice. Religious affiliation is statistically significant, but of sufficiently limited “captured variance” that substantive interpretation must wait future research.     

Bridges and Barriers: Religion and Immigrant Occupational Attainment across Integration Contexts

This article advances knowledge about context‐dependent impacts of religion on immigrant structural integration. Drawing on theories of inter‐generational immigrant integration, it identifies and spells out two context‐dependent mechanisms through which religion impinges upon structural integration – as ethnic marker prompting exclusion and discrimination, or as social organization providing access to tangible resources. The propositions are empirically tested with nationally representative data on occupational attainment in three different integration contexts which vary in religious boundary configurations and religious field characteristics – the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. Using data from the US General Social Survey, the Canadian Ethnic Diversity Survey, and the European Social Survey, the article analyzes indirect and direct effects of religious affiliation and participation on occupational attainment among first and second generation immigrants. The analyses find only limited evidence for the assumption that in contexts with strong religious boundaries (such as Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, Canada), immigrants face religious penalties in structural integration. By contrast, the analyses support the assumption that in contexts with a thriving religious field (such as the United States and, to a lesser extent, Canada), religious attendance tends to be positively related to occupational attainment, especially for the second generation. For the first time, the article empirically tests arguments about transatlantic differences in the role of religion for immigrant structural integration, and it suggests ways of better integrating micro‐oriented survey research with macro‐oriented institutional analysis.     

Religious individualization or secularization? Testing hypotheses of religious change – the case of Eastern and Western Germany

The individualization thesis advanced by sociologists of religion such as Grace Davie, Danièle Hervieu-Léger, Michael Krüggeler, Thomas Luckmann, Hubert Knoblauch, Wade Clark Roof, Wayne E. Baker, and others has become increasingly widespread especially in Europe within the sociology of religion. In contrast to the secularization theory it assumes that processes of modernization will not lead to a decline in the social significance of religion, but rather to a change in its social forms. According to the individualization theory, traditional and institutionalized forms of religiosity will be increasingly replaced by more subjective ones detached form church, individually chosen, and syncretistic in character. The article examines the empirical applicability of the individualization thesis on the basis of how religiosity and church affiliation have evolved in Germany over the past 50 years. It comes to the conclusion that the rise of individually determined non-church religiosity cannot compensate for the losses of institutionalized religiosity, since non-church religiosity remains rather marginal and is interwoven with traditional Christian religiosity. Religious individualization is only a component of the predominant secularization process.     

Immigrant Religion in the U.S. and Western Europe: Bridge or Barrier to Inclusion?

This article analyzes why immigrant religion is viewed as a problematic area in Western Europe in contrast to the United States, where it is seen as facilitating the adaptation process. The difference, it is argued, is anchored in whether or not religion can play a major role for immigrants and the second generation as a bridge to inclusion in the new society. Three factors are critical: the religious backgrounds of immigrants in Western Europe and the United States; the religiosity of the native population; and historically rooted relations and arrangements between the state and religious groups.     

Family,religion, and work among Arab American women

Using data from a national survey of 501 Arab American women, this study examines the extent to which family behavior mediates the influence of religion on women's labor force activity. Prior research on families has largely overlooked the role of religion in influencing women's labor force decisions, particularly at different stages of the life cycle. The analysis begins to address this gap by examining whether religious affiliation and religiosity have direct relationships to women's work behaviors, or whether they primarily operate through family behaviors at different phases of the life course. The results show that religiosity exerts a negative influence on women's labor force participation, but only when children are present in the home. Among women with no children, religiosity has no effect on employment.     

What Drives the Voting on Abortion Policy? Investigating Partisanship and Religion in the State Legislative Arena

Abstract

Much of the public policy debate on abortion now centers in the nation's state capitals. This research assesses the impact of partisanship and religiosity on the voting behavior of state legislators. Recent research indicates that a legislator's religious affiliation and the religiosity of their home districts can be a powerful predictor of votes on abortion bills, but this research uses a unique data set developed to analyze voting in the Florida House of Representatives to re-test those ideas and test several new ones. This work challenges the notion that member religion or district religiosity is more influential than partisanship in predicting votes on abortion. Ordered probit techniques show partisanship, gender and legislator religion (for Catholic and Jewish members only), to be the most significant predictors of abortion voting behavior. A number of district characteristics are found to be less significant. Theoretically, this suggests that legislators fulfill their party obligations as trustee on the floor of the House, more so than following constituent interests in the classic delegate role, as originally noted by Burke.     

Belonging,believing, behaving,and Brexit: Channels of religiosity and religious identity in support for leaving the European Union*

Having an Anglican affiliation is known to be associated with support for leaving the European Union (EU) in Britain. Religiosity, conceived as strength of religious attachment, has received comparatively little treatment. We investigate religiosity via electoral, household, and attitudinal surveys, distinguishing the effects of “behaving” and “believing.” The association between religiosity and EU Referendum vote choice and position is identified before and after inclusion of values, attitudinal, and civic engagement measures. Consistent with established findings, in socio-structural models Anglicans are more likely to support Brexit than religious Nones. More frequent church attendance is associated with being more pro-Remain. The Anglican effect is primarily mediated by anti-immigrant attitudes, authoritarianism, and salience of ethnic identity, suggesting a Christian nationalist aspect to Leave support. The attendance effect is mediated by warmer attitudes toward immigrants, and social capital. Notably, those exhibiting stronger orthodox belief tend to feature a stronger attachment to “Leave,” with this partly mediated by authoritarianism. To evaluate the net effect of religion on civic life, we should pay more attention to the cultural content of religious beliefs, and how they structure other values and attitudes.     

Changing Patterns of Religious Affiliation,Religiosity, and Marital Dissolution: A 35-Year Study of Three-Generation Families

This article examines multiple aspects of religion and the risk of marital dissolution with a life course lens. Relying on the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG), 1971 to 2005, we explore the effects of religion on the risk of first marital dissolution. Using discrete time-logit analysis, we find that the effect of religion and religiosity on divorce and separation were not significant, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, such as gender, ethnicity, marriage cohort, education, presence of children, household income, and employment status. Our findings support exchange theory that emphasizes educational and financial resources as key factors in divorce rather than religion or religiosity.     

Religiosity as a Determinant of Educational Attainment: The Case of Conservative Protestant Women in the United States

This paper examines the role of religiosity as a determinant of the educational attainment of women raised as conservative Protestants in the United States. A human capital model based on the demand and supply of funds for investments in education is used to develop hypotheses about various causal links between religiosity and years of schooling. The hypotheses are tested using data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, a large-scale survey addressed to a representative sample of women in the United States. Among respondents raised as conservative Protestants, those who attended religious services frequently during their adolescent years are found to complete one more year of schooling than their counterparts who were less observant. The gap is smaller, but still sizeable and statistically significant, when other factors are held constant in a multivariate analysis. The empirical results are consistent with the hypothesis that positive demand-side influences are dominant and explain the observed association between religiosity and educational attainment.     

THE ROLE OF PARENTAL RELIGIOSITY IN HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION

Scientists have produced a modest literature documenting the associations between individual religious behaviors and educational outcomes. Most scholars hypothesize that religion provides a context of social capital in which students reap educational benefit (or detriment) from the adults in the religious community. Despite the intergenerational influence inherent in the various social capital explanations, few studies have directly examined the role of parental religiosity in the educational outcomes of adolescents. In this study, I begin to address this gap by investigating whether and how parental religiosity is associated with a student's chances of graduating from high school. I seek to answer three questions related to parental religiosity and students’ high school graduation. First, does parental religiosity affect a student's chances of graduating from high school? Second, if parental religiosity is associated with high school graduation, does it operate primarily through the student's own religiosity or is there an independent effect? Third, if parental religiosity is independently associated with a student's high school graduation, what are the mechanisms by which it is associated? Using data from the first and third waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), I find that students whose parents attend religious services more often have greater odds of completing high school, and students who attend religious services with parents are almost 40% more likely to finish high school, net of a number of other religious and sociodemographic factors.     

Immigrant Generation,School Procedural Justice,and Educational Attainment

There is much educational concern about the disproportionate punishment of racial/ethnic minority students within U.S. public schools. Research evidence indicates that school punishment exacerbates the already-known racial/ethnic inequalities within the educational system. What remains uncertain is if and how school punishment, justice, and fairness are moderating educational attainment for the children of immigrants. This study utilizes data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 and incorporates multilevel analysis to examine how school punishment, justice, and fairness influence the educational attainment of children of immigrants. The study draws on straight-line and segmented assimilation frameworks to evaluate variation in these effects by immigrant generation. Findings do suggest that improved school procedural justice and fairness could enhance educational attainment as well as ameliorate the detrimental impact of school punishment; however, these patterns are segmented by immigrant generation and race/ethnicity.     

From Multiracial Subjects to Multicultural Citizens: Social Stratification and Ethnic and Racial Classification among Children of Immigrants in the United Kingdom

This study examines how immigrant parents’ geographic origins correspond to their adult children's ethnic and racial self‐classification; whether discrepancies are associated with socioeconomic status; and the implications of these patterns for assessing socioeconomic inequality. Using linked British census data, we identify immigrants’ children in 1971 and examine how they ethnically/racially self‐classify in 2001. We find that fluidity in classification varies across groups, but higher educational attainment is consistently associated with less white British classification. Therefore, grouping immigrants’ children by ethnic/racial self‐classification underestimates socioeconomic disadvantage for these groups. However, grouping by parental birthplace overlooks variation in racialization and disadvantage among children of immigrants from the same country of origin.