Religion and Social Life

Most people in the United States will agree that Religion plays an important part in their lives, even if they are not religiously and formally attached to a particular Organization. In humans social lives, the sociology of religion research, studies and attempts to explain the effects that society has on religion and the effects that religion has on society. This is what academic professionals call society and religion dialectical relationship. But there are some very important information we need to be aware of when we think of religion and social life.

There is a Social Model of Religion that academics say place emphasis on the early religious group. Within this concept, religions are founded by means of social implosions. Members of the religious group spend less and less time with people outside the group, and more time with each other within the group. The level of affection and emotional bonding between members of a group therefore increases, and their emotional bonds to members outside the group diminishes. But in today's contemporary and real world, religious members within this model will still have to interact with the general society on a daily basis as part of their need to carry-out necessary life transactions. They work for employers, take public transportation, attend to medical healthcare personnel for some assistance, create business relationships and alliances, attend universities, among other events...

In real life, religion contributes to social mobility and is also affected by it. Mobility from the bottom of the social ladder to the top, or vice versa, is not unusual. Social mobility contributes to movement between different religious traditions. In America, for example, as people life chances improve, their religious beliefs and practices and their religious affiliations are likely to change. In order to improve their social or even economic status, members of lower status religious groups often see rationality in joining other religious groups that are associated with more affluent strata. For example, for a person who has a college education in business but is struggling to be successful in his/her own business, it is not unusual for that person to join a more prestigious and fashionable religious group through marriage or other arrangements to enhance his/her business-economic chances and upward mobility in the social ladder. So the purpose of his/her religion may be interpreted here as relevant for social and economic success, than for spiritual reasons.

So the important fact is that as upward mobile individuals strive for lifestyles that are more compatible with higher status, some may feel socially compelled to switch to a denomination that corresponds with their new status in life. Therefore, Compatible Religion can be very essential in someone social life for real success. In America, for example, it is a fact that religious groups differ in class, status, and power. We are conscientious of this and often see practical demonstrational alliances of this truth in the political and economic powers of different religious groups. Some may say, for example, that the Presbyterian churches have more privileges than the Nazarenes or maybe the Baptists.

In our society, upward mobile mind persons are likely to develop new social relationships at work and in their neighborhoods. Hence, switching to the religion of old or new friends and associates, for example, is therefore likely to have the expected "worldly rewards" such as increased and more diversified circle of relationships that will ultimately enhance social wellbeing and work/job performances and prosperity. So the willingness to switch religious faith groups for the evident benefits are tempting and logical to some people in their social lives. Maybe this can be interpreted as the reflection of increased cultural individualism and religious voluntarism. Some say this is socially more evident in Protestant denominations, but also in Catholics and Jewish faiths.

Interestingly, some believe that within the context of religion and social prosperity, one factor that may explain any increase retention rate among Conservative Protestants, for example, may be increased economic polarization between rich and poor, and the growing number of formerly middle-class persons who have lost socio-economic status. Or, the contemporary development of large, nondenominational mega-churches in America, for example, in the 20 and 21st centuries have socially influenced peoples' minds. Maybe we need to be informed that increased cultural conservatism, sectarian groups effectiveness in recruiting new members, and the combination of other worldly-rewards they offer socially "downwardly mobile" religious persons also contribute to the trend of the new churches and their success in people social lives. So we can see another dimension of how religion affect social lives.

In some people religion and social lives, beliefs emphasizing absolute truth, the highly emotional expressions of faith associated with revivals, for example, and the distinctive practices such as snake-handling or the use of Latin at Mass, can give way to more church-like emphasis on relative and symbolic interpretations and more acceptable styles of worship. Likewise, emphasis on evangelizing others may give way to the live-and-let-live approach that appears more compatible with affluent status in the United States, for example. The latter example, the religious experts say, may be more evident in social groups that have experienced a great deal of social mobility, such as the Catholics, Anglicans and Methodists. See the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society: Mobility at http://hirr.hartsem.edu.

The understanding from this is that when social mobility and the success attached to this concept does not produce changes in affiliation, it often fosters changes in what some people believe and how they practice their faith. So it may very well discourage working-class beliefs and practices, and instead encourages beliefs and practices that are seen as more compatible with a middle or upper-class lifestyle. Hence, the dialectical relationship between religion and society can be seen.

Someone religion can therefore affect his/her social life, economic prosperity, and potential success or lack thereof. Socially mobile persons will change religion or affiliations if the benefits in life are real and sustainable. No one wants to have a religion that impoverish them or that will not enhance their prosperity, whether it be socially, economically, spiritually, or otherwise. Changing religious groups or affiliations is not new. But the effects from doing so may vary with the individual because ultimate prosperity is not absolutely guaranteed.
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