Opiate of the Masses? Social Inequality, Religion, and Politics

Abstract

This study considers the assertion that religion is the opiate of the masses. Using a special module of the General Social Survey, I first demonstrate that disadvantaged groups—women, racial minorities, those with lower incomes, and sexual minorities—receive more compensatory psychological benefits from religion. I then demonstrate that religious compensation suppresses the liberal politics of disadvantaged groups. This study, therefore, provides empirical support for Marx’s general claim that religion is the “sigh of the oppressed creature” and suppressor of emancipatory politics. It expands and refines the argument, however, by showing that (1) it can apply to social inequality in addition to economic inequality; and (2) the suppression of liberal politics is more pronounced on social issues than economic issues.