Congregational Cohesion, Retention, and the Consequences of Size Reduction: A Longitudinal Network Analysis of an Old Order Amish Church
Congregations depend on their members for their success and survival. Yet there is a lack of research examining congregational retention or exit. Social networks are key to understanding religious group dynamics including retention; however, research on religious communities using network analysis...
| Auteurs: | ; ; ; |
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| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
Oxford Univ. Press
[2020]
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| Dans: |
Sociology of religion
Année: 2020, Volume: 81, Numéro: 2, Pages: 206-229 |
| Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés: | B
Amish
/ Commune
/ Cohésion de groupe
/ Analyse des réseaux (Sociologie)
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociologie des religions KBQ Amérique du Nord KDH Sectes d’origine chrétienne |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Articles
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| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Résumé: | Congregations depend on their members for their success and survival. Yet there is a lack of research examining congregational retention or exit. Social networks are key to understanding religious group dynamics including retention; however, research on religious communities using network analysis is limited. We use Amish directories to compile longitudinal census data on intracongregational familial ties in our case study. We theorize and find that cohesion is inversely related to congregational size and positively related to retention. We find that splitting congregations reduces cohesion when members central to the network are removed even when congregational size is reduced. The findings may be particularly relevant for understanding retention and group dynamics in small congregations and ethnic congregations in which extended family ties more commonly form the membership base. The results demonstrate the utility of using social network analysis methods to test theoretical predictions drawn from the sociology of religion literature. |
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| ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/socrel/srz036 |