Measuring Religious Involvement

Abstract

This paper critically reviews some of the more prominent typologies of religious involvement and finds that there are specific problems of definition and classification with existent schemes. An attempt is made to synthesize the work of others in a new typology of religious involvement. It is suggested that religious involvement can have four general orientations: (1) supernatural (2) communal (3) cultural (4) interpersonal. Each of these orientations can be manifested in a behavioral or ideational manner. Within this framework, nine dimensions and three subdimensions of religious involvement are proposed. A factor analysis of data gathered from a sample of Jewish adults in Chicago, Illinois lent general support for the scheme presented here. Contrary to the emphasis in much of the research on Christianity, behavioral rather than ideational dimensions accounted for most of the total variance in religious involvement. The 1960s were good years for the sociology of religion. With the renewed interest in religion, there has been, understandably, much interest in arriving at adequate definitions of religion and religiosity. As the research in the sociology of religion proliferated, so did the typologies of religious involvement and the number of dimensions within those typologies. The field moved from simple unidimensional scales to complex multidimensional scales. Thus, Wach (1944) proposed three factors of religious commitment; Lenski (1961) suggested that there are really four. Glock and Stark (1965) elaborated upon Fukuyama (1960) and proposed five dimensions of religious involvement. Their typology has probably generated more research in this area than any other scheme. Clayton (1971) was able to scale the Glock and Stark dimensions of religious involvement. King (1967) proposed nine dimensions, but later, along with Hunt (1969) suggested that there are really eleven. Most recently (1972), however, they decided that ten dimensions look best. While contemplating the similarities and differences between theoretically plausible typologies, we have attempted to clarify matters by empirical verification. These schemes have been correlated, scalogrammed, factored and analyzed in almost every way possible; with each researcher presenting his method of empirical verification with his own criteria of truth. Anyone who has spent some time building scales empirically knows that they can be shaped, condensed, and tailored to fit many different conceptual schemes. Furthermore, if you change the sample, you might have to change the scales. Consequently, attempts at empirical verification have added to the confusion about the number of religious involvement dimensions. Perhaps, then, what is needed first and foremost is a clear conceptual scheme. This paper will critically review some of the more prominent typologies of religious involvement, suggest a new typology which systematically attempts to synthesize the others, and finally present some empirical verification of the proposed typology. REVIEWING TYPOLOGIES OF RELIGIOUS