Thesis advisor: Paul Schervish / The rapid increase in the number of religious non-affiliates in the United States makes non-affiliation an important issue to study. Traditional secularization theories have explained the overall increase in the number of people who report not belonging to a specific religion, but have not explored the diversity among them. Studies attempting to explain the rise in non-affiliation have been basically descriptive, focusing on sociodemographic characteristics or social networks of religious non-affiliates, examining the effects of cohort, political orientation, parents' religions, and peer religions. There is no comprehensive social theory on the dynamics of religious non-affiliation. In sum, the previous literature requires us to reconsider the theoretical limits of modernity and the unilateral understanding of secularization and suggests a new framework for multiple secularities in accordance with high modernity. In this study, I conceptualize religious non-affiliation as "multiple secularities," creating a new framework that takes into account the existence of various forms of non-affiliation in the United States. Specifically, I identify three types of worldviews (theism, spiritualism, immanent frame) and two categories of institutional religious affiliation (affiliation and non-affiliation). Thus, six forms of belief are considered--affiliated theism, affiliated spiritualism, affiliated positivism, unaffiliated theism, unaffiliated spiritualism, and unaffiliated positivism. Utilizing the 2005 Baylor Religion Survey and the Religion Module of the 2008 International Social Science Survey, this dissertation explores differences among multiple secularities in the U.S. with respect to three dimensions of holistic implications: head, heart, and hand. Findings indicate that there are distinct differences among unaffiliated individuals based on belief types. Compared to unaffiliated spiritualists and unaffiliated positivists, unaffiliated theists place less importance on the role of human agency as compared to divine agency, have lower levels of moral liberalism, are more likely to favor religion when considering the tension between religion and science, more likely to report experiences of being filled with the Spirit, more likely to participate in political associations, but less likely to attend political rallies and demonstrations. Unaffiliated spiritualists have the highest rates of reporting experiences of oneness with the universe and interest in New Age (astrology and alternative medicine), and they are most likely to participate in political rallies or public protests among the unaffiliated individuals. Unaffiliated positivists are most likely to place importance on human agency, and they have the lowest rates of religious and spiritual experiences among the unaffiliated. These findings make several important contributions to the literature. First, they contribute to the recognition of the limits of the `secularization' thesis in a high (or late) modern society such as the United States and provide a new framework for understanding `multiple secularities' by examining interactions between the institutional level of secularity (non-affiliation) and the individual level of secularity (privatization of belief). Second, they confirm the Weberian insight that `elective affinities' exist between worldviews and ideological, experiential, and social aspects of life in a high modern society. Third, they demonstrate that social research should further explore the subdivisions among "unchurched believers" (unaffiliated theists and spiritualists). Fourth, they contribute to the debate on "spiritual individualism" versus "engaged spirituality" by demonstrating that spirituality promotes various forms of social engagement. Finally, this dissertation suggests that contemporary social scientists should recognize the limits of the traditional secularization thesis and face a new conundrum of post-secularity beyond belief types and affiliation types in order to promote social cohesion. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_101862 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Oh, Se il |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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