Why Do Small Religious Groups Have More Committed Members?
In recent years a small but growing literature has shown that religious groups located in areas where their members are a smaller proportion of the population have more committed members. Arguments based on the religious economies model suggest that the leaders of these small religious groups face g...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publications
2008
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| In: |
Review of religious research
Year: 2008, Volume: 49, Issue: 4, Pages: 353-378 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In recent years a small but growing literature has shown that religious groups located in areas where their members are a smaller proportion of the population have more committed members. Arguments based on the religious economies model suggest that the leaders of these small religious groups face greater religious competition from larger groups, and hence they must work harder to recruit new members and increase commitment levels among current members. I argue instead that, for reasons extrapolated from Blau (1977), small-population-366 share groups have much higher rates of members leaving and new members joining. Both of these processes (leaving and joining) tend to select for more committed current members. The least committed are the most likely to leave the group and those who actually join a group tend to be the most committed from among the pool of potential joiners. Thus congregations with higher membership turnover rates have current members that are more committed. In fact, membership turnover is one of the best predictors of per member giving and attendance. Such processes can lead to higher commitment levels in low population share areas, even if religious leaders do nothing to recruit new members or raise commitment among their current members. |
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| ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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