Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Religious and Political Beliefs at the Individual Level and Across Generations

政治学博士论文研究：个人层面和代际间的宗教和政治信仰

• 批准号: 1122471
• 负责人: Kevin Smith
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-01 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1122471&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Political; Science

How and why are political beliefs and religious beliefs linked together at the individual level and even within families and across generations? Most scholarship treats political and religious belief systems as independent concepts and devotes little attention to the possibility that they may have common origins. Yet existing research demonstrates that political and religious socialization occurs in families, that political and religious traits are partially heritable, and that political attitudes associated with religion are more consistently transmitted from parent to child than are other attitudes. Why do these patterns in the available evidence exist?To answer its overarching question by proposing and testing a new theoretical model that suggests that political and religious beliefs are grounded in a common psychological construct reflecting dispositions towards social order. The researcher aims to identify and measure these dispositions, assess their influence over political and religious beliefs, and assess whether this influence is innate, a product of socialization, or a combination of both.The research design used differs from existing analyses of the origins and transmission of religious and political attitudes in a number of ways. For example, almost all existing political socialization studies focus on parents and children, whereas this project brings the analysis back to a third generation and surveys grandparents, parents, and children. Individuals do not enter marriage or parenthood with blank slates; they also have experienced the transmission of certain belief sets and innate dispositions. Understanding whether parents are serving as "value relays" between generations may shed light on socialization processes as well as provide evidence for heritability effects.This project makes several broader contributions. Public opinion polls have shown in the US and in many democracies that people from different religious traditions tend to vote differently. What is unknown is how and why religious and political belief systems overlap within individuals and are inter-generationally transmitted. In addressing these unknowns, this project has the potential to shed light on the origins of political attitudes and the stability of beliefs across generations.

政治信仰和宗教信仰是如何以及为什么在个人层面乃至家庭内部和几代人之间联系在一起的？大多数奖学金都将政治和宗教信仰制度视为独立概念，并且很少关注他们可能具有共同起源的可能性。然而，现有的研究表明，政治和宗教社会化发生在家庭中，政治和宗教特征部分是可遗传的，与其他态度相比，与宗教相关的政治态度更始终如一地从父母传播到孩子。为什么存在可用证据中的这些模式？通过提出和测试一种新的理论模型来回答其总体问题，该模型表明政治和宗教信仰是基于一种共同的心理结构，反映了对社会秩序的倾向。研究人员旨在识别和衡量这些处置，评估它们对政治和宗教信仰的影响，并评估这种影响是先天的，社会化的产物还是两者的结合。研究设计与现有的宗教和政治态度的分析不同，以多种方式进行了多种方式。例如，几乎所有现有的政治社会化研究都集中在父母和孩子上，而该项目将分析带回了第三代，并调查了祖父母，父母和孩子。个人不会与空白的婚姻或育儿；他们还经历了某些信仰集和先天性的传播。了解世代之间的父母是否充当“价值继电器”是否可以阐明社会化过程，并为遗传效应提供证据。该项目做出了更广泛的贡献。公众舆论在美国和许多民主国家中都表明，来自不同宗教传统的人们往往以不同的投票。未知的是如何以及为什么宗教和政治信仰体系在个人内部重叠，并在传播中传播。在解决这些未知数时，该项目有可能阐明政治态度的起源以及几代人的信仰的稳定。