Hickman, David Charles
Description
This study endeavours to explain differences in the
religious orientation of Form Five students in terms of
differences in their social contexts. In complex societies,
with religious pluralism, individuals are exposed to
different definitions of reality according to their
membership of subgroups. Their orientation may be influenced
not only by their membership of subgroups but also the value
they place on being approved by these groups : the extent to
which the groups are "reference...[Show more] groups"·
Religious orientation is not considered as a unidimensional
concept; but various aspects of religious
orientation are considered separately throughout the study.
The importance of membership of two social categories
for religious orientation is considered. There are
consistent differences in religious orientation between
boys and girls and some evidence that the students,
particularly boys conform to the perceived orientation of
the majority of their age-category. Responses to questions
about the relative importance of approval of peers and
adults and the strength of popular theme involvement permit
further specification of the associations.
Some students perceive themselves to hold a minority
religious position, deny religious legitimacy to those who
hold other positions and consider the differences to be
serious ones. These students tend to have similar
characteristics such as denomination and parental religious background, but there is little evidence that they form
social ghettos. Those who deny legitimacy to the religious
views of others tend to show stronger religious involvement
than others who attend church with the same frequency.
There are important differences between schools which
may arise either from background factors, the formal
religious education given at the school or the social
relations in the secondary school. The various explanations
are explored briefly.
Friendship patterns and the religious orientation of
the students are related to each other in most schools.
This result is confirmed by a number of procedures.
The local church is important in providing social
support for the religious commitment of a few students but
does not appear as crucial for most. Churchgoing itself
requires the social support of friends or parents, even for
students whose personal religious commitment appears strong.
The religious patterns in subgroups show neither
complete uniformity nor random variation. The social
mechanisms which permit some diversity of religious
orientation in student subgroups are examined. There is
little evidence of drift from religion in mid-adolescence.
"Privatism" limits the impact of social pressures to
conformity and a few significant others often provide
sufficient social support to maintain a religious position.
The reasons for the limited effectiveness of social
influence questions are discussed and suggestions made for
future research.
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