Religion and Social Groups

Religion and Social Groups: Class, Gender, Ethnicity, and Age

The relationship between religion and social groups — who believes, who practices, and why — reveals how religion intersects with inequality.

Religion and Social Class

Who is Religious? Class Patterns

• Church of England attendance is historically associated with the middle and upper classes — the C of E was called "the Conservative Party at prayer"
• Working-class religious participation has historically been lower in mainstream churches but higher in sects and Pentecostal churches
• New Religious Movements (NRMs) vary: world-rejecting NRMs (e.g., cults) attract disaffected middle-class youth; world-affirming NRMs (e.g., Scientology) attract affluent professionals seeking self-improvement
• New Age spirituality is disproportionately middle-class, female, and educated

Explanations

Functionalism: religion provides meaning and comfort at all class levels — but the type of religion varies

Marxism:

• Marx: religion is the "opium of the people" — it compensates the working class for exploitation by promising an afterlife
• The ruling class uses religion to legitimise inequality (divine right, "the meek shall inherit the earth")
• Working-class sects (e.g., Methodism in the 18th–19th centuries) can represent a form of protest against the established church — but one that is ultimately contained within a religious framework rather than becoming political

Neo-Marxism:

• Gramsci: the Church can either maintain ruling-class hegemony or be a site of counter-hegemony (e.g., liberation theology)
• Maduro (1982): in Latin America, Catholic priests sided with the poor against oppressive regimes — religion as a force for revolutionary change

Weber:

• Theodicy of disprivilege: religion provides the disadvantaged with an explanation for their suffering and a promise of future reward — this is why the oppressed are often MORE religious, not less
• Theodicy of privilege: the wealthy use religion to legitimise their good fortune as deserved ("prosperity gospel")

Deprivation and Sect Membership

Relative deprivation helps explain why certain social groups are drawn to sects:

• Weber and Niebuhr (1929): sects typically recruit from the marginalised and dispossessed — those who feel excluded from mainstream society and its rewards
• Sects offer community, status, and meaning to those denied them by secular society
• Working-class and ethnic minority groups are over-represented in many sects and Pentecostal churches because of their relative deprivation

Evaluation

• The link between class and religion is weakening in secular societies where overall religiosity is declining
• Immigration has complicated class-religion patterns — Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh communities cut across class lines
• New Age is middle-class but marginal — can we generalise from it?

Religion and Gender

Key Pattern: Women Are More Religious

Virtually every measure of religiosity shows women are more religious than men:

• Women are more likely to attend church, pray, and express belief in God
• Women make up the majority of congregations in most Christian denominations
• Women are more likely to participate in New Age movements and alternative spirituality
• Brierley (2005): women make up approximately 65% of churchgoers
• Aune et al. (2008): women are leaving organised religion faster than men — but they are more likely to adopt alternative spirituality

Explanations

Socialisation:

• Miller and Hoffmann (1995): women are socialised to be more submissive, passive, and nurturing — qualities associated with religiosity
• Caring roles (mothering) make women more aware of life's fragility and more receptive to religion's offer of comfort
• Davie (1994): women's closer proximity to birth and death (through childbearing and caring for the elderly) makes them more attuned to "ultimate questions"

Compensation for Deprivation:

• Glock and Stark (1969): women experience multiple forms of deprivation (social, economic, organismic) that make religion attractive as compensation
• Organismic deprivation (physical and mental suffering): women suffer more from chronic illness and live longer — religion provides comfort
• Social deprivation: women have historically had less power and status — sects and NRMs offer status and community

Nature of Women's Roles:

• Greeley (1992): caring for others develops an "ethic of care" that is more compatible with religious values
• Women who work part-time or full-time in the home may have more time and flexibility for religious participation
• Bruce (1996): as women increasingly enter full-time paid employment, gender differences in religiosity may narrow

Feminist Perspectives:

• De Beauvoir (1949): religion is a tool of patriarchy — it tricks women into accepting subordination by promising equality in the afterlife
• El Saadawi (1980): religion is not inherently sexist — patriarchal men have distorted religious texts to justify male dominance
• Woodhead (2002): women are not passive victims — many use religion as a source of empowerment, identity, and resistance
• Muslim women may adopt the hijab as a conscious choice expressing identity, modesty, and resistance to Western objectification
• Women in evangelical churches may find genuine community, support, and status within the religious sphere

Religion and Ethnicity

Key Patterns

• Ethnic minorities in the UK are generally more religious than the White British population
• 2021 Census: 93% of British Muslims identified as religious; only 46% of White British identified as Christian
• Higher rates of attendance, prayer, and religious identification across all major minority ethnic groups
• Black Caribbean communities: strong Pentecostal and evangelical traditions
• South Asian communities: high levels of religious practice across Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh traditions
• Religion is often closely tied to ethnic identity and community cohesion

Explanations

Cultural Defence (Bruce, 2002):

• Religion provides a focal point for identity in a potentially hostile or unfamiliar society
• For migrant communities, religion maintains cultural ties to the homeland and provides a sense of belonging
• Mosques, temples, and churches serve as community centres, advice services, and social networks
• Example: the role of Black Pentecostal churches in providing community for Caribbean migrants facing racism in 1950s–60s Britain

Cultural Transition (Bruce, 2002):

• Religion helps first-generation migrants navigate the transition to a new society by providing familiar rituals, language, and community
• Bruce predicts that as integration progresses across generations, religious participation will decline (secularisation will eventually reach these communities too)

Evaluation of Bruce:

• Bird (1999): criticises Bruce for assuming that ethnic minority religiosity is primarily about identity rather than genuine belief — this is patronising and reduces religion to a social function
• Second and third-generation British Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs often maintain high levels of religiosity — contradicting Bruce's prediction of decline
• Modood (1994): for many British Muslims, religion is NOT declining across generations but is being renegotiated — young British Muslims may be more religiously committed than their parents, combining Islamic faith with British identity

Deprivation:

• Ethnic minorities experience higher rates of poverty, racism, and social exclusion
• Religion provides theodicy (explanation for suffering), community support, and status within the religious group
• This aligns with Weber's concept of the theodicy of disprivilege

Religion and Age

Key Patterns

• Older people (65+) are more likely to attend church and identify as religious than younger people
• Under-25s are the least likely age group to identify as religious — over 50% of 18-24 year olds in the UK report "no religion"
• However, there is a resurgence of religious interest among some young people through NRMs, evangelical Christianity, and Islam
• The generational effect: older people are not becoming more religious as they age — they belong to a generation that was more religious overall

Explanations

Socialisation and Generational Change:

• Older generations were socialised in a more religious era (1940s–60s) when church attendance was normative
• Younger generations have been socialised in a secular culture — religion was not part of their upbringing
• Voas and Crockett (2005): each successive generation is less religious than the last — this is a cohort effect, not an ageing effect. It means secularisation is progressive and irreversible (once a generation is socialised without religion, they do not "return" to it later)

Proximity to Death:

• Older people may become more religious as they approach mortality — religion offers comfort and meaning in the face of death
• Evaluation: this "disengagement" explanation lacks empirical support — most studies show the cohort effect is stronger

Ageing and Social Change:

• Older people may feel marginalised by rapid social change — religion provides stability, routine, and community
• Retirement can lead to social isolation — church provides a social network

Young People and New Forms of Religiosity:

• While church attendance among the young is very low, some young people are attracted to:
• Evangelical and charismatic Christianity: contemporary worship styles, small group communities, social media presence
• Islam: revival among young British Muslims who see Islam as a positive identity
• New Age and spirituality: interest in mindfulness, yoga, and alternative spirituality — though these are often not recognised as "religion"
• Online religion: religious engagement through YouTube, podcasts, and social media

Summary Table

Social Group	Key Pattern	Key Explanation
Working class	Higher sect membership; lower mainstream church	Relative deprivation; compensation; theodicy of disprivilege
Women	More religious on all measures	Socialisation; deprivation; caring roles; proximity to birth/death
Ethnic minorities	More religious than White British	Cultural defence; cultural transition; deprivation; genuine belief
Young people	Less religious; some drawn to NRMs/evangelicalism	Generational change; secularisation; but new forms emerging

Exam Tip

Questions on religion and social groups often ask you to focus on one group (gender, ethnicity, or age). Do not just list statistics — explain the patterns using sociological theories (Weber, Bruce, Davie, Woodhead). The best answers show how class, gender, ethnicity, and age interact — e.g., the high religiosity of older working-class Black Caribbean women can be explained by the intersection of all four factors.