Religiosity in the system of value orientations of schoolchildren

Abstract

The article analyzes the results of a sociological study of the place of religiosity in the value orientations of schoolchildren. 703 students of 8-10 grades were interviewed in Zaporozhye in December 2016. Religion is considered one of the sources and pillars of moral consciousness. An important part of religiosity is the transmission of religious values from generation to generation. The level of religiosity can be studied with the help of empirical sociological studies, which allow us to objectively and quantitatively evaluate this level. According to the study, it is argued that religion is on the periphery in the ranking of the life values of adolescents in Eastern Ukraine. From the list of 15 values, the point of religiosity took the penultimate fourteenth place, yielding only to the value of “having power”. In sum, the stations “Rather important” and “Very important” regarding the significance of religious values were chosen by 32.4% of respondents. The data on the value preferences of religious schoolchildren compared to the value preferences of non-religious schoolchildren are given. For religious schoolchildren such values as: the development of their abilities, self-realization, obtaining higher education, family, wealth accumulation and high incomes, achieving a high position in society, gaining respect among people matter more than for nonreligious ones. This does not contradict the provisions of M. Weber and G. Allport. It is concluded that the indicators of social morality are somewhat higher among religious schoolchildren than among nonreligious ones. Religious schoolchildren are more conservative, but their achievement values of life success and material wealth are higher than achievement values of non-religious schoolchildren. One of the reasons for the relatively low level of religiosity among schoolchildren in Eastern Ukraine is the lack of attention of parents to the religious education of children.