Socio-religious Groups Research Articles

Interpreting the Disparity in Educational Attainment among Various Socio-religious Groups in India

This study is an attempt to identify the origin of disparity in educational participation and educational achievement among various socio-religious groups in India. To accomplish this objective, we run the logistic model of regression to estimate the differential influences of the monetary returns to education and some personal, household and community-related factors affecting educational decisions of the school-age children across the groups. Then we use the method of inequality decomposition applicable for logit/probit model and decompose the existing inequality in the proportion of educational participation between some pairs of the socio-religious groups into ‘response effect’ and ‘attribute effect’.It is observed that there exists sharp disparity in educational participation among the various groups. A rise in estimated returns enhances the educational decisions of the members of the disadvantaged groups irrespective of their age and levels of education, but it can enhance the educational decisions of the members of the advantaged groups only at the upper end of their school-age. The percentage contribution of the ‘response effect’ of disparity in the rate of educational participation between Hindu-others and Muslims is greater compared to that of the ‘attribute effect’, but the former declines with the rise in the level of education. However, a significant proportion of the disparities in the educational participation between Hindu-others and Hindu-SC, and Hindu-others and Hindu-ST, is attributed to the characteristic differences at all levels of education except the middle.

Poverty and Food Security: Trends Among Socio-religious Groups in India

This article analyses food insecurity, poverty risk and inequality in different castes and religious groups in India by utilizing National Sample Survey Organisation’s (NSSO) household-level information between 1999–2000 and 2011–2012. The article provides an assessment of the socio-economic characteristics of food-insecure households of the country, and it finds that the poverty risk estimated on the basis of relative poverty line increased both in rural and urban India between 1999–2000 and 2011–2012. The study finds that the likelihood of incidence of food security for the population increased, irrespective of social and religious groups. Food security was lower in Muslims than in Hindus. The relative degree of food security was significantly less among the tribal people compared to other social groups.

Anut Grubyuk in the Voting Process: The Neglected Explanation of Javanese Voters (Preliminary Findings)

IntroductionThe Javanese are ranked as the most numerous ethnic group in Indonesia. The 2010 national census reported that they amounted to 40.22 percent of the national population (92,217,022 people), with 48.72 percent of them living in rural areas (Na'im and Syaputra 2011, 28). This numerical majority is one of the reasons for scholarly studies to examine the Javanese as a political entity.1)However, the number of published scholarly works on Javanese voters is not commensurate with the dominance of this population. Clifford Geertz (1960), in his pioneering masterpiece The Religion of Java, introduced the aliran (streams) approach that attempted to map Javanese electoral orientations. The approach is founded on Javanese socio-religious norms that contribute to the Javanese people's worldview (religious beliefs, ethical preference, and political ideologies) and yields three main cultural types: abangan, santri, and priyayi (ibid., 4-5). Geertz explains this well-known trichotomic nature of Javanese society as follows:Abangan, representing a stress on the animistic aspects of the overall Javanese syncretism and broadly related to the peasant element in the population; santri, representing a stress on the Islamic aspects of syncretism and generally related to the trading element (and to certain elements in the peasantry as well); and priyayi, stressing the Hinduist aspects and related to the bureaucratic element. (ibid., 6)In the postcolonial period, these socio-religious groups changed their positions from religious to political (ibid., 363).Afan Gaffar (1992) deployed Geertz's Javanese cultural types to study Javanese voting behavior for a political party. This quantitative research succeeded in revealing some explanatory variables of Javanese voters, especially in rural Java. The general conclusion was that norms and values, which were transferred via political socialization, contributed to the creation of partisan choices among Javanese villagers. Gaffar concluded that voters' preferences are shaped by their interaction with leaders. Voters attached to formal leaders (village officials and their assistants and the heads of hamlets) vote for the government party (Golongan Karya, Golkar). In contrast, voters affiliated with informal leaders, especially religious leaders, vote for the Islamic party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, PPP).2) Consequently, the influence of socio-religious orientation shows a clear pattern of abangan voters attached to formal leaders voting for Golkar and santri affiliated with religious leaders voting for PPP (ibid., 193-194).It is important to note that Gaffar's research was conducted in the context of a hegemonic party system and authoritarian government. It is fair to say that contemporary Indonesian politics is very different. Indonesia has implemented open political competition or regular and fair elections since 1999. Freedom House classified Indonesia as a free country in terms of electoral democracy (Puddington 2013, 15).3)Some scholars working in the Javanese or Indonesian context are involved in academic debate over Geertz's crucial work. Kahn expands Geertz's argument that aliran does not merely inform citizens' political affiliations with parties. In the Indonesian context, aliran is an ideological element, along with ethnicity and patronclientage (Kahn 1978, 120). Meanwhile, R. William Liddle observes that Indonesia is very diverse in political values, beliefs, and attitudes. The uniform dynamic of Islam between 1960 and 90 and abanganism's existence indicate the continuing diversity (Liddle 1996, 631).However, Robert Hefner (1987, 550) reveals that the politics of the New Order had oppressed political Islam but Islam as a religion expanded in Java due to state facilities and policy support for education. Similarly, Bambang Pranowo argues over the santri-abangan dichotomy, indicating that the New Order floating mass policy at the village level meant people were not segregated by political affiliation. …

Undernutrition among adults in India: the significance of individual-level and contextual factors impacting on the likelihood of underweight across sub-populations.

To investigate the extent to which individual-level as well as macro-level contextual factors influence the likelihood of underweight across adult sub-populations in India. Population-based cross-sectional survey included in India's National Health Family Survey conducted in 2005-06. We disaggregated into eight sub-populations. Multistage nationally representative household survey covering 99 % of India's population. The survey covered 124 385 females aged 15-49 years and 74 369 males aged 15-54 years. A social gradient in underweight exists in India. Even after allowing for wealth status, differences in the predicted probability of underweight persisted based upon rurality, age/maturity and gender. We found individual-level education lowered the likelihood of underweight for males, but no statistical association for females. Paradoxically, rural young (15-24 years) females from more educated villages had a higher likelihood of underweight relative to those in less educated villages; but for rural mature (>24 years) females the opposite was the case. Christians had a significantly lower likelihood of underweight relative to other socio-religious groups (OR=0·53-0·80). Higher state-level inequality increased the likelihood of underweight across most population groups, while neighbourhood inequality exhibited a similar relationship for the rural young population subgroups only. Individual states/neighbourhoods accounted for 5-9 % of the variation in the prediction of underweight. We found that rural young females represent a particularly highly vulnerable sub-population. Economic growth alone is unlikely to reduce the burden of malnutrition in India; accordingly, policy makers need to address the broader social determinants that contribute to higher underweight prevalence in specific demographic subgroups.

The environment in education: Pesticides in Lebanon

Environmental Issues in Education: The Case of Pesticides in Lebanon In the untamed world of globalization, rapid industrialization, and the gluttony for material consumption centering on the rapid depletion of certain natural resources, all coupled with high emission of polluting carbons and chemicals, the ecosystem lost its balance pushing this tiny planet, earth, towards natural catastrophes. This research highlights the main environmental issues and problems citing Lebanon as an example of many developing countries, caused by reckless behavior and policies, as they fail to design and adopt solutions to a series of complicated problems. The main question revolves around what causes humans to persist in mismanaging the natural resources that sustain their existence? The immediate answer may be summarized in these words: ignorance, individualism and greed. The authors aim at highlighting the setting and formulation of an international strategy, focusing particularly upon the problem of global warming. The case of misuse of pesticides in the Lebanese agricultural sector and their fatal impact upon the environment will be highlighted. The stress will be on the role of education in forming and shaping ecological awareness, at schools, universities, media, NGOs, and particularly governmental institutions. The paper concludes by calling for launching the setup of an international strategy to establish lobbying chapters in every country. The aim would be to follow up on public and private policies while applying effective academic and practical steps in schools and universities to develop an effective awareness of environmental problems. It invites governments, municipalities, socio-religious groups and NGOs to assume their active roles and awaken the common citizen’ s consciousness and responsibilities through ecological promotion and replenishment activities to sustain a balanced ecosystem for future generations to enjoy. Keywords: natural resources, pesticides, agricultural sector, education, ecosystem, environment.

Is the Rule of Law an Antidote for Religious Tension? The Promise and Peril of Judicializing Religious Freedom

Although “rule of law” is often regarded as a solution for religious conflict, this article analyzes the role of legal processes and institutions in hardening boundaries and sharpening antagonisms among religious communities. Using case studies from Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan, we highlight four specific mechanisms through which legal procedures, structures, and instruments can further polarize already existing religious conflicts. These mechanisms include the procedural requirements and choreography of litigation (Sri Lanka), the strategic use of legal language and court judgments by political and socioreligious groups (India), the activities of partisan activists who mobilize around litigation (Malaysia), and the exploitation of “public order” laws in contexts framed by antagonism targeting religious minorities (Pakistan).

India's Retail Trade Revolution: Socio Religious Dimensions of Employment Loss and New Forms of Urban Exclusion

The urban retail trade in India is undergoing a change with the arrival of large domestic and foreign investors. This paper by highlighting the case of consolidation of retail trade by the Indian and foreign firms, attempts to understand the possible exclusion in the traditional sectors, including small entrepreneurship and street vending and related activities and brings out further questions of urban exclusion. Drawing from available official data, the paper argues that while the new organised retailing has the potential to affect every socio religious group in the sector, it will affect Muslims in urban India followed by the scheduled castes (SCs) more intensely due to their higher worker population ratio in elementary occupations and traditional retailing if the new retail trade replaces the traditional retailing as happened in other countries. This brings a new dimension to the continuing exclusion of these already excluded groups. The paper also highlights that while eliminating them from the entrepreneurship landscape, organised retailing would also raise the risk of their falling back to exploitative caste centred agrarian sector and urban informal jobs from where they moved out once.

Normative Groups: The Rise of the Formation of the First Union Through Cohabitation in Quebec, a Comparative Approach

The rise of cohabitation in Quebec has attracted the interest of some demographers who have documented it, but why or how Quebec actively adopted this new behavior while it long had a reputation for being conservative in attitudes and behaviors with respect to family is still debated. One view is that this shift is related to an important transformation of the foundation of the normative system shared by the members of its main socio-religious group, French-speaking Catholics. This article is part of a research effort looking for empirical evidence to sustain this claim. Using data from the 1984 National Fertility Survey and from the 1990, 1995, 2001, and 2006 General Social Surveys, we estimate the hazard functions of the formation of the first union by marriage or by cohabitation for ten-year birth cohorts from 1911 to 1981 among several “normative groups” defined by language, religion, and province of residence. The results support the notion that the demise of the formation of the first union by marriage and its replacement by cohabitation in Quebec is typical of French-speaking Quebecers, among which those who declare themselves Catholic have become similar to those who declare having no religious affiliation.

Dancing with the Divine(r): Batá Drumming, Ifá Divination, and Orisha Worship in Cuba

This paper is an examination of similarities between batá drumming and Ifá divination among the Afrocuban socio-religious group, Lukumí. Primarily addressing the use of diametrically opposed social actions within each of these practices, the paper maintains that this juxtaposition of opposites is a constituent characteristic of divining modes—be they interpretive or mediumistic—in effecting suprahuman communication. The paper purports the necessity to examine batá drumming as a divination system; thus, it argues the need for an expanded construct of divination that can readily include musical behaviours such as possession induction.

Effect of Sociocultural Cleavage on Genetic Differentiation: A Study from North India

Indian populations possess an exclusive genetic profile primarily due to the many migratory events, which caused an extensive range of genetic diversity, and also due to stringent and austere sociocultural barriers that structure these populations into different endogamous groups. In the present study we attempt to explore the genetic relationships between various endogamous North Indian populations and to determine the effect of stringent social regulations on their gene pool. Twenty STR markers were genotyped in 1,800 random North Indians from 9 endogamous populations belonging to upper-caste and middle-caste Hindus and Muslims. All nine populations had high allelic diversity (176 alleles) and average observed heterozygosity (0.742 +/- 0.06), suggesting strong intrapopulation diversity. The average F(ST) value over all loci was as low as 0.0084. However, within-group F(ST) and genetic distance analysis showed that populations of the same group were genetically closer to each other. The genetic distance of Muslims from middle castes (F(ST) = 0.0090; DA = 0.0266) was significantly higher than that of Muslims from upper castes (F(ST) = 0.0050; DA = 0.0148). Phylogenetic trees (neighbor-joining and maximum-likelihood) show the basal cluster pattern of three clusters corresponding to Muslims, upper-caste, and middle-caste populations, with Muslims clustered with upper-caste populations. Based on the results, we conclude that the extensive gene flow through a series of migrations and invasions has created an enormous amount of genetic diversity. The interpopulation differences are minimal but have a definite pattern, in which populations of different socioreligious groups have more genetic similarity within the same group and are genetically more distant from populations of other groups. Finally, North Indian Muslims show a differential genetic relationship with upper- and middle-caste populations.

Effect of Sociocultural Cleavage on Genetic Differentiation: A Study from North India

Indian populations possess an exclusive genetic profile primarily due to the many migratory events, which caused an extensive range of genetic diversity, and also due to stringent and austere sociocultural barriers that structure these populations into different endogamous groups. In the present study we attempt to explore the genetic relationships between various endogamous North Indian populations and to determine the effect of stringent social regulations on their gene pool. Twenty STR markers were genotyped in 1,800 random North Indians from 9 endogamous populations belonging to upper-caste and middle-caste Hindus and Muslims. All nine populations had high allelic diversity (176 alleles) and average observed heterozygosity (0.742 ± 0.06), suggesting strong intrapopulation diversity. The average FST value over all loci was as low as 0.0084. However, within-group FST and genetic distance analysis showed that populations of the same group were genetically closer to each other. The genetic distance of Muslims from middle castes (FST = 0.0090; DA = 0.0266) was significantly higher than that of Muslims from upper castes (FST = 0.0050; DA = 0.0148). Phylogenetic trees (neighbor-joining and maximum-likelihood) show the basal cluster pattern of three clusters corresponding to Muslims, upper-caste, and middle-caste populations, with Muslims clustered with upper-caste populations. Based on the results, we conclude that the extensive gene flow through a series of migrations and invasions has created an enormous amount of genetic diversity. The interpopulation differences are minimal but have a definite pattern, in which populations of different socioreligious groups have more genetic similarity within the same group and are genetically more distant from populations of other groups. Finally, North Indian Muslims show a differential genetic relationship with upper- and middle-caste populations.

The Evolution of Beliefs and Opinions on Matters related to Marriage and Sexual Behaviour among French-speaking Catholic Quebecers and English-speaking Protestant Ontarians

The authors argue that the important changes in behaviour related to family and sexual life that were seen in Quebec during the second half of the 20th century are a consequence of a major transformation of the foundation of the normative system shared by the members of Quebec’s main socio-religious group, Frenchspeaking Catholics. Using data from Gallup polls, the authors compare the evolution of the opinions of French-speaking Quebec Catholics and Englishspeaking Ontario Protestants on matters related to sexual and family behaviour from the 1950s to the beginning of the 2000s. The general result is that the evolution of the differences between the two groups is compatible with the hypothesis.

The Religious Factor Revisited

Four decades have passed since the publication of Gerhard Lenski's The Religious Factor. While generally regarded as a classic in the sociology of religion, the book has had a curious history, largely because of the interest it generated in differences between Protestants and Catholics. In this paper I provide an alternative reading of The Religious Factor's impact on sociology of religion that points to its larger theoretical implications. I argue that the book should be understood in relation to continuing debates about the classification of religious traditions, differentiation among socioreligious groups, intergroup relations among religious traditions, and friendship ties within religious communities. Through understanding these contributions, the book's legacy as well as continuities and new opportunities in the study of religion can be appreciated.

“Let's Reclaim Our History and Culture!”— Imagining Alevi Community in Contemporary Turkey

Istanbul squatter area killed two people and left several others injured. The mass rally that followed the shooting quickly turned into a violent political protest, and more than twenty people were shot dead by police. Though for some ten years the Alevis of Turkey had been the subject of a lively public debate in the country itself, the massacre drew world attention to a socioreligious group that had to then been more or less unknown. My contribution to the understanding of the process of revival and cultural self-assertion that has recently grasped the Alevi community will first sketch the background and contours of the theoretical problem and then will consider the role of history and tradition in the processes of the formation and maintenance of this movement. Simultaneously I hope to introduce orientalists to

Aragonese and catalan Jewish converts at the time of the expulsion

Historians of fifteenth-century Spanish Jewry have had to grapple with few problems as controversial or complex as that of Jewish conversion to Christianity and its implications for both Jewish and Christian societies. The forced conversion of Jews on a massive scale during the pogroms of 1391, and the subsequent voluntary conversions in the wake of the Disputation of Tortosa and the preaching of the Dominican Vicent Ferrer (1412-15) gave rise to the converso problem, that of nominal Christians whose relationship to their new faith covered a broad spectrum of stances, ranging from zealous adherence to outright rejection in favor of the Jewish faith of their ancestors. In any case, it is probable that the presence of this new socioreligious group that bridged the gap between Christian and Jewish societies was an important factor encouraging and facilitating the continual trickle of Jewish conversions after the traumas of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The dilemma presented by the existence of a large body of New Christians evoked varied responses from Jewish and Christian authorities, and eventually led the Catholic monarchs, Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, to establish the Spanish Inquisition (1478-83) in order to eradicate the judaizing conversos from Christian society. Once inquisitorial investigations revealed clearly what many already suspected or knew that Jews actively abetted those conversos so inclined in their maintenance of a Jewish life Fernando and Isabel in 1492 took the decisive step of expelling all Jews from Castile and Aragon in the hope of protecting the New Christians from further Jewish contamination.1 Yet the expulsion itself served only to compound the converso problem, for many Jews and it is unlikely that historians will ever know how many opted for baptism instead of exile from what had been their homeland for well over a millennium.2

Evangelicals and the 1984 Election

This article analyzes the change and continuity evident in the political attitudes and behavior of American evangelicals over the past two presidential elections. Viewed in terms of a socioreligious group, evangelicals remained a relatively large bloc of voters with distinctive political attitudes. However, important changes were evident in their level of voter turnout, their level of voting cohesion, and their pattern of partisan identification. Regional and age differences among evangelicals are also analyzed. The data suggest that a new "generation" of evangelicals may be emerging. Young evangelicals, regardless of region, appear to be relatively politicized and distinctively Republican in their partisanship.

Protestant Ethic and Status-Attainment

In the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber (1958) traced the roots of the modern work ethic to Protestantism. Calvinists, Pietists, and Methodists, he argued, systematized their labor in order to demonstrate true faith through works and thus prove to themselves with certainty that they were among the saved. And like the Calvinists' salvation anxiety, religious discipline intensified the inner-worldly asceticism of Baptists, Mennonites, Quakers, and other sect members (Weber, 1958; see also Weber, 1946). The systematization of their labor in a calling, Weber stated, brought many Protestants occupational success, and economic ascendancy over others. Gerhard Lenski (1961) applied Weber's thesis to contemporary North America. Here too, he reasoned, Protestants' religious teachings and religious community life help to inculcate the work ethic, which contributes to later economic success. Lenski's thesis has fared poorly in empirical tests. Reviews of past research by Greeley (1964) and Bouma (1973) reveal little evidence that Protestants exceed non-Protestants in occupational status, income, educational attainment, or social mobility. Despite many tests, Greeley (1964) has labelled Lenski's thesis proven, and this judgement still holds true. Perhaps the lack of proof stems from the incorrectness of the thesis, but from the inadequate research designs employed to test it (see Bouma, 1973). If so, better designed studies would be called for, not the moratorium on Protestant ethic research that Greeley (1964) has suggested. One design problem with the comparisons of Protestant and Catholic status-attainment used in past research is the near impossibility of controlling all the relevant non-religious determinants of the economic position of these socio-religious groups. Glenn and Hyland (1967), for example, have reported that the predicted Protestant-Catholic differences in socioeconomic position existed in North America as recently as the mid-1940's, but the Protestants' advantage was overcome by Catholics because of their more favorable distribution by region and community size. In short, Protestants' religion may well provide them with a socioeconomic advantage, but that advantage is neutralized by other non-religious factors.

Catholics and the Upper Middle Class: A Comment on Roof

Since Wade Clark Roof's article Socioeconomic Differentials Among White Socioreligious Groups in the United States is to some considerable extent a response to my own work, I should like to continue the dialogue, I hope, with the same respect and courtesy which Roof has displayed in his contribution. In this brief Comment, I will contend that Roof is mistaken when he says that the differences among Protestant and Catholic groups become so small and insignificant that they hardly warrant extended debate and certainly should not be accorded more attention than they deserve. I will contend that quite literally the differences are significant, indeed statistically significant, and they require and deserve considerable attention, though for reasons that have to do more with our understanding of immigration than with our understanding of religion. In order to clarify the differences that may exist between Roof and myself, let me state first of all that I agree with Roof that neither Catholic nor Protestant claims to superior economic motivation are likely to be persuasive today and that I certainly do not expect a national elite . . . without any Protestants at all. Indeed, the context for my own work, set in the introductory pages of the brochure to which Roof refers, was designed to indicate my basic concerns with immigration and acculturation and not with the superiority of religious motivations. The issue for me is not whether Catholics are more successful than Protestants, but whether the expectations stated at the beginning of this century by the Dillingham Commission and later by the works of various writers of the Chicago School that the Catholic ethnic group would find it difficult to achieve economic success in America have been sustained by the empirical evidence. The issues, it seems to me, are not those raised by Cantril or Lenski or Pope or Veroff, Feld and Gurin. The issues are those raised, rather by W I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki (Polish Peasant in Europe and America), issues which I do not think American social science has definitively analyzed. I have two basic disagreements with Roof, one methodological and the other substantive. Methodologically, the standardization techniques ? 1981 The University of North Carolina Press. 0037-7732/81/030824-30$00.70

Socioeconomic Differentials among White Socioreligious Groups in the United States

Socioeconomic Differentials among White Socioreligious Groups in the United States

Socioeconomic Differentials Among White Socioreligious Groups in the United States

Socioeconomic Differentials Among White Socioreligious Groups in the United States