How the Religious Cleavages of Civil Society Shape National Identity

Annette Schnabel and Mikael Hjerm

SAGE Open, 2014, vol. 4, issue 1, 2158244014525417

Abstract: This article focuses on religion and the embeddedness in civil society. We examine the relationship between religion and national identity (ethnic and civic). Our findings show that individual religiosity continues to play an important role in sustaining both forms of national identity. In addition to other studies, we examine the relationship between religion as a societal phenomenon and individual national identity and find the following: The stronger the relationship between state and religion, the stronger the ethnic identity; the more the religious homogeneity, the stronger the ethnic identity; and there is no relationship between aggregated degree of religious organizations and identity. We conclude that religion continues to play a major role in the making of civil society, but the specific circumstances vary according to the religious representation. In other words, religion can both make and unmake national identity.

Keywords: religion; civil society; national identity; Europe; MLA; EVS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:4:y:2014:i:1:p:2158244014525417

DOI: 10.1177/2158244014525417

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