The effect of religiosity on alienation: A multivariate analysis of normlessness

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1983

Abstract

Religiosity constitutes a neglected variable in the research of alienation. The present study tests a theory of the effect of religiosity on the alienation dimension of normlessness. Data from the 1973 and 1976 NORC General Social Surveys suggest that the higher the religiosity, the lower the normlessness. This relationship is independent of variables drawn from other theories of normlessness such as the perspectives which link social class and urbanism to anomie. The notion that religious integration should foster integration into the larger normative social system is modestly supported by two indicators of religiosity: belief in religion and attendance of religious services. Evidence is also found for a sex role theory of normlessness, wherein females report more anomie than males. However, education and level of occupational prestige prove to be the conditions most closely tied to normlessness, both in the negative direction. © 1983 by the Ohio Valley Sociological Society.

Publication Title

Sociological Focus

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS