The Dearborn Effect: A Comparison of the Political Dispositions of Shia and Sunni Muslims in the United States
The study of Muslims in the West is a burgeoning field, in which scholars are examining the religious, social and political lives of Muslims as minorities. This article continues in that vein, and utilizes the Muslim American Political Opinion Survey (MAPOS) to compare Shia and Sunni responses in a...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2011]
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| In: |
Politics and religion
Year: 2011, Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 154-167 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The study of Muslims in the West is a burgeoning field, in which scholars are examining the religious, social and political lives of Muslims as minorities. This article continues in that vein, and utilizes the Muslim American Political Opinion Survey (MAPOS) to compare Shia and Sunni responses in a few areas of interest: religious identity, views of being a Muslim in the United States, and political participation in the American system. Using a comparison of mean responses and the t-test to analyze 13 variables, it demonstrates that Sunnis felt more strongly that the teachings of Islam were compatible with political participation in the United States, and that a statistically significantly higher percentage of Shia respondents participated in a rally or protest. The study goes further to suggest that perhaps congregants of Shia mosques view Islamic teachings as being more compatible with participation in American politics, and opens the door for further consideration and research involving a more in-depth study of the Shias in the American political context, one that examines how the narratives that drive Shiism affect individual Shia social and political participation in a country where they are a real "minority within a minority". |
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| ISSN: | 1755-0491 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Politics and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S1755048310000489 |