IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ratsoc/v25y2013i2p178-197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religious chameleons: Exploring the social context for belonging without believing

Author

Listed:
  • Jason Wollschleger

    (Whitworth University, USA)

  • Lindsey R. Beach

    (University of Washington, USA)

Abstract

Following previous discussions of objective religious hypocrisy, we now explore the concept of subjective religious hypocrisy; that is, belonging to a religious group but not believing in its tenets. In exchange terms, subjective hypocrisy can be understood as cheating on one’s subjective religious commitments (belief) in order to gain access to otherwise unavailable social incentives. Drawing on existing literature, we specify the social structural conditions that lead to higher levels of subjective religious hypocrisy. We also explore the costs and risks this behavior can create for individuals and the consequences it can have for religious groups. We offer a series of testable deductive propositions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason Wollschleger & Lindsey R. Beach, 2013. "Religious chameleons: Exploring the social context for belonging without believing," Rationality and Society, , vol. 25(2), pages 178-197, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:25:y:2013:i:2:p:178-197
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463112473794
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1043463112473794
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1043463112473794?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miran LavriÄ & Sergej Flere, 2011. "Intrinsic religious orientation and religious rewards: An empirical evaluation of two approaches to religious motivation," Rationality and Society, , vol. 23(2), pages 217-233, May.
    2. James D. Montgomery, 1996. "Dynamics Of The Religious Economy," Rationality and Society, , vol. 8(1), pages 81-110, February.
    3. Putnam, Robert David & Lim, Chaeyoon & MacGregor, Carol Ann, 2010. "Secular and Liminal: Discovering Heterogeneity among Religious Nones," Scholarly Articles 5341589, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    4. Iannaccone, Laurence R, 1992. "Sacrifice and Stigma: Reducing Free-Riding in Cults, Communes, and Other Collectives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 271-291, April.
    5. Jason Wollschleger & Lindsey Beach, 2011. "A cucumber for a cow: A theoretical exploration of the causes and consequences of religious hypocrisy," Rationality and Society, , vol. 23(2), pages 155-174, May.
    6. Ross Stolzenberg & Mary Blair-Loy & Linda J. Waite, "undated". "Religious Participation Over the Early Life Course: Age and Family Life Cycle Effects on Church Membership," University of Chicago - Population Research Center 94-14, Chicago - Population Research Center.
    7. Miran LavriÄ & Sergej Flere, 2010. "Measuring religious costs and rewards in a cross-cultural perspective," Rationality and Society, , vol. 22(2), pages 223-236, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katie E. Corcoran, 2013. "Divine exchanges: Applying social exchange theory to religious behavior," Rationality and Society, , vol. 25(3), pages 335-369, August.
    2. Pavol Minarik, 2022. "The persistence of opposition in an oppressive regime: The case of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia," Rationality and Society, , vol. 34(2), pages 218-236, May.
    3. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2018. "Which is greener: secularity or religiosity? Environmental philanthropy along religiosity spectrum," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(2), pages 477-502, April.
    4. Benito Arruñada, 2003. "Specialization and rent-seeking in moral enforcement: The case of confession," Economics Working Papers 653, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jul 2009.
    5. Mario Ferrero, 2014. "Competition Between Exclusive Religions: The Counter-Reformation As Entry Deterrence," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 61(3), pages 280-303, July.
    6. Makowsky, Michael D., 2011. "A theory of liberal churches," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 41-51, January.
    7. Berman, Eli & Iannaccone, Laurence R. & Ragusa, Giuseppe, 2018. "From Empty Pews To Empty Cradles: Fertility Decline Among European Catholics," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 84(2), pages 149-187, June.
    8. Permani, Risti, 2011. "The presence of religious organisations, religious attendance and earnings: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 247-258, May.
    9. Shy, Oz, 2007. "Dynamic models of religious conformity and conversion: Theory and calibrations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1127-1153, July.
    10. Mario Ferrero, 2014. "From Jesus to Christianity: The economics of sacrifice," Rationality and Society, , vol. 26(4), pages 397-424, November.
    11. McBride, Michael, 2015. "Why churches need free-riders: Religious capital formation and religious group survival," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 77-87.
    12. Benito Arrunada, "undated". "Catholic Confessions of Sin as Third Party Moral Enforcement," Gruter Institute Working Papers on Law, Economics, and Evolutionary Biology 3-1-1013, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    13. Russell N. James & Deanna L. Sharpe, 2007. "The “Sect Effect” in Charitable Giving: Distinctive Realities of Exclusively Religious Charitable Givers," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(4), pages 697-726, October.
    14. Mark Koyama & Jean-Paul Carvalho, "undated". "Development and Religious Polarization: The Emergence of Reform and Ultra-Orthodox Judaism," Discussion Papers 11/11, Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Carvalho, Jean-Paul & Koyama, Mark, 2016. "Jewish emancipation and schism: Economic development and religious change," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 562-584.
    16. Raphaël Franck & Laurence Iannaccone, 2014. "Religious decline in the 20th century West: testing alternative explanations," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 385-414, June.
    17. Jason Wollschleger & Lindsey Beach, 2011. "A cucumber for a cow: A theoretical exploration of the causes and consequences of religious hypocrisy," Rationality and Society, , vol. 23(2), pages 155-174, May.
    18. Gilat Levy & Ronnie Razin, 2009. "Religious Organizations," STICERD - Theoretical Economics Paper Series 544, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    19. Iyigun, Murat, 2006. "Ottoman Conquests and European Ecclesiastical Pluralism," IZA Discussion Papers 1973, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Ayse Guveli & Lucinda Platt, 2023. "Religiosity of Migrants and Natives in Western Europe 2002–2018: Convergence and Divergence," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-27, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:25:y:2013:i:2:p:178-197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.