Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2013, 49(3): 403-426 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2013.49.3.03

The National Religious Environment and the Orthodoxy of Christian Beliefs: A Comparison of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Jan Váně, Martina Štípková
University of West Bohemia, Pilsen

The authors analyse the relationship between primary religious socialisation and the preservation of religious orthodoxy expressed by attitudes and practices in adulthood. They aim to test the effect of socialisation and the effect of religious practices in adulthood on the orthodoxy of people's beliefs in three countries (Austria, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic), which are similar in terms of their cultural context, but have different religious environments. The authors see the different religious environment of each of the studied countries as the main explanatory factor. They also try to demonstrate that in an era of pluralism, orthodox religious attitudes (corresponding to offi cial teachings and practices) are more likely to be preserved in environments that are prevailingly secular in character. The authors work with data from the ISSP-Religion 2008 survey, tracking the following variables: primary religious socialisation, religious practice in adulthood, and orthodoxy of faith.

Keywords: religious socialisation, orthodoxy of beliefs, religious practices, sociology of religion, cross-national comparisons, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic

Published: June 1, 2013Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Váně, J., & Štípková, M. (2013). The National Religious Environment and the Orthodoxy of Christian Beliefs: A Comparison of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 49(3), 403-426. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2013.49.3.03.
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Aarts, Olav, Ariana Need, Manfred Te Grotenhuis and Nan Dirk De Graaf. 2010. 'Does Duration of Deregulated Religious Markets Affect Church Attendance? Evidence from 26 Religious Markets in Europe and North America Between 1981 and 2006.' Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 49 (4): 657-672. Go to original source...
    2. Bauman, Zygmunt. 2010. Community. Seeking Safety in an Insecure World. Cambridge: Polity Press.
    3. Beck, Ulrich. 2010. A God of One´s Own: Religion´s Capacity for Peace and Potential for Violence. Cambridge: Polity Press.
    4. Beck, Ulrich and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim. 2002. Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences. London: Sage Publications.
    5. Berger, Peter. 1997. Vzdálená sláva. (A Far Glory: The Quest for Faith in an Age of Credulity) Brno: Barister & Principal.
    6. Berger, Peter. 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics. Washington, DC: Ethics and Public Policy Center.
    7. Borowik, Irena. 2002. 'The Roman Catholic Church in the Process of Democratic Transformation: The Case of Poland.' Social Compass 49 (2): 239-252. Go to original source...
    8. Borowik, Irena. 2006. Religions, Churches and Religiosity in Post-communist Europe. Krakow: Nomos.
    9. Boyatzis, Chris. 2003. 'Religious and Spiritual Development: An Introduction.' Review of Religious Research 44 (3): 213-219.
    10. Bréchon, Pierre. 2007. 'Cross-National Comparisons of Individual Religiosity.' Pp. 463-489 in The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by James A. Beckford and N. J. Demerath. London: Sage Publications.
    11. Bruce, Steve. 2002. God Is Dead. Secularization in the West. Oxford: Blackwell.
    12. Bruce, Steve. 2011. Secularization: In Defense of an Unfashionable Theory. New York: Oxford University Press. Go to original source...
    13. Casanova, José. 1994. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago, IL, and London: The University of Chicago Press.
    14. Casanova, José. 2007. 'Die religiöse Lage in Europa.' Pp. 322-357 in Säkularisierung und die Weltreligionen, edited by H. Joas and H. Wiegandt. Frankfurt am Main: Fisher Verlag.
    15. Davie, Grace. 1994. Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without Belonging. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
    16. Davie, Grace. 2002. Europe: The Exceptional Case. Parameters of Faith in the Modern World. Darton: Longmann and Todd.
    17. Dobbelaere, Karel. 2002. Secularization: An Analysis at Three Levels. Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang S.A. Go to original source...
    18. Esmer, Yilmaz and Thorleif Pettersson. 2007. Measuring and Mapping Cultures: 25 Years of Comparative Value Surveys. Leiden: BRILL. Go to original source...
    19. Freese, Jeremy. 2004. 'Risk Preferences and Gender Differences in Religiousness: Evidence from the World Value Survey.' Review of Religious Research 46 (1): 88-91. Go to original source...
    20. Gautier, Mary L. 1997. 'Church Attendance and Religious Belief in Post-communist Societies.' Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 36 (2): 289-296. Go to original source...
    21. Goldstein, Warren S. 2009. Marx, Critical Theory, and Religion. A Critique of Rational Choice. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.
    22. Goujon, Anne, Vegard Skirbekk, Katrin Fliegenschnee and Pawel Strzelecki. 2007. 'New Times, Old Beliefs: Projecting the Future Size of Religions in Austria.' Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 5: 237-270. Go to original source...
    23. Gunnoe, Marjorie L. and Kristin A. Moore 2002. 'Predictors of Religiosity among Youth Aged 17-22: A Longitudinal Study of the National Survey of Children.' Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41 (4): 613-622. Go to original source...
    24. Hagenaars, Jacques A. 1990. Categorical Longitudinal Data: Log-linear Panel, Trend, and Cohort Analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
    25. Hamplová, Dana. 2010. 'Česká religiozita-církevní příslušnost a víra ve světle Sčítání lidu a dat ISSP 2008.' (Czech Religiosity-Affiliation to Church and Religiosity Seen through the Census and ISSP 2008) Naše společnost 8 (1): 3-8.
    26. Hamplová, Dana and Zdeněk Nešpor. 2009. 'Invisible Religion in a "Non-believing" Country: The Case of the Czech Republic.' Social Compass 56 (4): 581-597. Go to original source...
    27. Heelas, Paul and Linda Woodhead. 2005. The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion Is Giving Way to Spirituality. Oxford: Blackwell Publisher.
    28. Hervieu-Léger, Daniele. 2000. Religion as a Chain of Memory. Cambridge: Polity Press.
    29. Hervieu-Léger, Daniele. 2003. 'Individualism, the Validation of Faith, and the Social Nature of Religion in Modernity.' Pp. 161-175 in The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion, edited by Richard Fenn. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Go to original source...
    30. Hervieu-Léger, Daniele. 2004. Pilger und Konvertiten: Religion in Bewegung. Würzburg: Ergon.
    31. Hoge, Dean, Gregory H. Petrillo and Ella I. Smith. 1982. 'Transmission of Religious and Social Values from Parents to Teenage Children.' Journal of Marriage and the Family 44 (3): 569-580. Go to original source...
    32. Inglehart, Ronald and Wayne E. Baker. 2000. 'Modernization, Cultural Change, and the Persistence of Traditional Values.' American Sociological Review 65 (1): 19-51. Go to original source...
    33. Kelley, Jonathan and Nan Dirk de Graff. 1997. 'National Context, Parental Socialization, and Religious Belief: Result from 15 Nations.' American Sociological Review 62 (4): 639-659. Go to original source...
    34. Kusá, Zuzana and Miroslav Tížik. 2009. Výskum európskych hodnôt 1991-1999-2008 slovenská a česká spoločnost: pramenno-analytická publikácia. (European Values Research 1991-1999-2008 the Czech and Slovak Societies: Data and Analyses) Bratislava: Sociologický ústav SAV.
    35. Lechner, Frank. 2007. 'Rational Choice and Religious Economies.' Pp. 81-97 in The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by James A. Beckford and N. J. Demerath. London: Sage Publications. Go to original source...
    36. Livezey, Lowell W. 2000. Public Religion and Urban Transformation. New York and London: New York University Press.
    37. Luckmann, Thomas. 1967. The Invisible Religion: The Problem of Religion in Modern Society. New York: Macmillan.
    38. Marks, Loren. 2004. 'Sacred Practices in Highly Religious Families: Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim Perspectives.' Family Process 43 (2): 217-231. Go to original source...
    39. Martin, David. 2005. On Secularization: Towards a Revised General Theory. Aldershot: Ashgate.
    40. Moor, Nienke. 2009. Explaining Worldwide Religious Diversity. Nijmegen: PrintPartners Ipskamp.
    41. Müller, Olaf. 2011. 'Secularization, Individualization, or (Re)vitalization? The State and Development of Churchliness and Religiosity in Post-communist Central and Eastern Europe.' Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe 4 (1): 21-37.
    42. Need, Ariana and Nan Dirk de Graf. 1996. 'Losing My Religion: A Dynamic Analysis of Leasing the Church in the Netherlands.' European Sociological Review 12 (1): 87-99. Go to original source...
    43. Norris, Pippa and Ronald Inglehart. 2004. Sacred and Secular. New York: Cambridge University Press. Go to original source...
    44. O´Connor, Thomas, Dean Hoge and Estrelda Alexander. 2002. 'The Relative Influence of Youth and Adult Experiences on Personal Spirituality and Church Involvement.' Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41 (4): 723-732. Go to original source...
    45. Pickel, Gert and Kornelia Sammet. 2012. Transformations of Religiosity: Religion and Religiosity in Eastern Europe 1989-2010. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
    46. Podolinská, Tatiana. 2010. 'The Religious Landscape in Post-communist Slovakia.' Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 19 (1): 85-101. Go to original source...
    47. Pollack, Detlef. 2003. 'Religiousness Inside and Outside the Church in Selected Post-communist Countries of Central and Eastern Europe.' Social Compass 50 (3): 321-334. Go to original source...
    48. Pollack, Detlef. 2008. 'Religious Change in Europe: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Findings.' Social Compass 55 (2): 168-186. Go to original source...
    49. Pollack, Detlef and Olaf Müller. 2006. 'Religiousness in Central and Eastern Europe: Towards Individualization?' Pp. 22-36 in Religious Churches and Religiosity in Post-communist Europe, edited by Irena Borowik. Krakow: Nomos.
    50. Regnerus, Mark. 2003. 'Religion and Positive Adolescent Outcomes: A Review of Research and Theory.' Review of Religious Research 44 (4): 394-413. Go to original source...
    51. Stark, Rodney. 2002. 'Physiology and Faith: Addressing the "Universal" Gender Difference in Religious Commitment.' Journal for Scientific Study of Religion 41 (3): 495-507. Go to original source...
    52. Stark, Rodney and Laurence Iannaccone. 1994. 'A Supply-Side Reinterpretation of the "Secularization" of Europe.' Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 33 (3): 230-252. Go to original source...
    53. Stark, Rodney and Roger Finke. 2000. Acts of Fight: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
    54. Tilley, James R. 2003. 'Secularization and Aging in Britain: Does Family Formation Cause Greater Religiosity?' Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 42 (2): 269-278. Go to original source...
    55. Tížik, Miroslav. 2012. 'Religion and National Identity in an Enlarging Europe.' Pp. 101-121 in Crossing Borders, Shifting Boundaries: National and Transnational Identities in Europe and Beyond, edited by Franz Hollinger and Markus Hadler. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.
    56. Tomka, Miklós. 2011. Expanding Religion. Religious Revival in Post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter. Go to original source...
    57. Tomka, Miklós and Paul Zulehner. 1999. Religion in der Reformländer Ost (Mittel) Europas. Vienna: Pastorales Forum.
    58. Tomka, Miklós and Paul Zulehner. 2000. Religion im gesellschaftlichen Kontext Ost (Mittel) Europa. Vienna: Pastorales Forum.
    59. Turner, Bryan (ed.). 2010. Secularization I-IV. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington, DC: Sage Publications.
    60. Voas, David and Alasdair Crockett. 2005. 'Religion in Britain: Neither Believing nor Belonging.' Sociology 39 (1): 11-28. Go to original source...
    61. Voas, David and Stefanie Doebler. 2011. 'Secularization in Europe: Religious Change between and within Birth Cohorts.' Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe 4 (1): 39-62.
    62. Warner, Stephen. 1993. 'Work in Progress toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States.' American Journal of Sociology 98 (5): 1044-1093. Go to original source...
    63. Young, Lawrence. 1997. Rational Choice Theory and Religion: Summary and Assessment. New York and London: Routledge.
    64. Zrinščak, Siniša. 2004. 'Generations and Atheism: Patterns of Response to Communist Rule among Different Generations and Countries.' Social Compass 51 (2): 221-234. Go to original source...
    65. Zulehner Paul M., Hermann Denz, Martina Beham and Christian Friesl. 1993. Vom Untertan zum Freiheitskünstler: Eine Kulturdiagnose anhand der Untersuchungen. Religion im Leben der Österreicher 1970 bis 1990. Vienna: Herder.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content