Changing Faith: The Dynamics and Consequences of Americans’ Shifting Religious Identities

Darren E. Sherkat

Published by New York University Press 2014

Changing Faith

The Dynamics and Consequences of Americans’ Shifting Religious Identities

Darren E. Sherkat

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814741269.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

More than anywhere else in the Western world, religious attachments in America are quite flexible, with over 40 percent of U.S. citizens shifting their religious identification at least once in their lives. In Changing Faith, Darren E. Sherkat draws on empirical data from large-scale national studies to provide a comprehensive portrait of religious change and its consequences in the United States.

With analysis spanning across generations and ethnic groups, the volume traces the evolution of the experience of Protestantism and Catholicism in the United States, the dramatic growth of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, and the rise of non-identification, now the second most common religious affiliation in the country. Drawing on that wealth of data, it details the impact of religious commitments on broad arenas of American social life, including family and sexuality, economic well-being, political commitments, and social values.

Exploring religious change among those of European heritage as well as of Eastern and Western European immigrants, African Americans, Asians, Latin Americans, and Native Americans, Changing Faith not only provides a comprehensive and ethnically inclusive demographic overview of the juncture between religion and ethnicity within both the private and public sphere, but also brings empirical analysis back to the sociology of religion.

Author information

Sherkat Darren E. :

Darren E. Sherkat is Professor of Sociology at Southern Illinois University.

Reviews

The great virtue of this book is that it compiles in a single place almost everything worth knowing about American religion that can be learned from the cumulative U.S. General Social Surveys (GSS), surveys that have been collected every one or two years since 1972. . . . This is a great book. The style is clear, the coverage is comprehensive, and the analysis is insightful and sophisticated.

Sherkat's study undermines the popular claim that while fewer Americans have a formal religious identification, they nevertheless retain many of the trappings of religious belief and personal practice.

a work that is highly relevant and useful for further research and application. This book is highly recommended

Darren SherkatsChanging Faithis an interesting and valuablebook. []Changing Faithis worth reading, debating, and teaching.

Changing Faithis a well-written, compelling book. By illustrating the importance of demographic factors in understanding religions in the United States today,Changing Faithis an important book with which all sociologists of religion should be familiar

Penny Edgell,author of Religion and Family in a Changing Society:
Religious identification matters in the United States, shaping private and publicly-oriented behaviors. This book identifies immigration and generational change as major sources of change in religious identification, and shows why 'grand theories' do not help us to understand the religious landscape. . . . An important book which will serve as a resource for scholars and students who want an accurate, empirically-based understanding of the causes and implications of Americans' changing religious identifications.

Jennifer Glass,Barbara Bush Regents Professor of Liberal Arts, University of Texas - Austin:
Provides a fascinating glimpse into the changing religious landscape in the U.S., telling us who the winners and losers have been in a half century of demographic and religious change. Using the best available data, Sherkat busts the myths concerning the rise in conservative Christianity, showing that non-Christians groups and unaffiliated nonbelievers have grown faster. Rather than supporting the notion that religions operate like a marketplace, Sherkat reminds us how important ethnic ties, immigrant origins, and fertility differentials are in contemporary religious affiliation. He makes a significant contribution by showing not just how religious affiliations have changed , but why it matters in how people form families and decide upon schooling and careers. If you want to know which denominations are growing or declining and, most importantly, why, this book is for you.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction. Making Sense of American Religion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Religious Identification in America Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
2. Religious Switching and Religious Change Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
3 Belonging and Believing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
4. Faith, Family, and Fortune Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
5. Religious Identification and Politics in the United States Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
Conclusions. Making Sense of Shifting Identities and Their Influence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: August 22, 2014
ISBN: 9780814741283