«Well, were going to church...»: religious socialization in family following the interviews with believers and their children

Abstract

Religiosity reproduction in religious families is a new and understudied area in modern Russian sociology. Due to the growth of the number of Russian believers in second and third generation, it has become possible to study the religiosity phenomenon not merely as a result of personal religious conversion, but as a consequence of cross-generational translation within families as well. The article presents the results of the empirical study of religiosity reproduction on religious families. Following the materials of the interviews (n=25) of religious persons (Orthodox and Protestant), the article describes various factors that to one degree or another, impact the religiosity transmission from parents to their children. One may state that in process of religious socialization family plays a more significant role than peers, Sunday school attendance, etc. It has been found that the level of enchurchment of adults is also connected to how they inherited their parents' models and styles of intrafamilial relations during their childhood.