Religious Exiting and Social Networks: Computer Simulations of Religious/Secular Pluralism

Statistical models attempting to predict who will disaffiliate from religions have typically accounted for less than 15% of the variation in religious affiliations, suggesting that we have only a partial understanding of this vital social process. Using agent-based simulations in three "artific...

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Auteurs: Cragun, Ryan T. (Auteur) ; Wildman, Wesley J. 1961- (Auteur) ; Shults, Fount LeRon 1965- (Auteur) ; McCaffree, Kevin J. 1985- (Auteur) ; Puga-Gonzalez, Ivan (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: [publisher not identified] [2021]
Dans: Secularism and Nonreligion
Année: 2021, Volume: 10, Pages: 1-20
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Réseau social / Éducation religieuse / Pluralisme religieux / Irréligion
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophie de la religion
AD Sociologie des religions
AX Dialogue interreligieux
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Résumé:Statistical models attempting to predict who will disaffiliate from religions have typically accounted for less than 15% of the variation in religious affiliations, suggesting that we have only a partial understanding of this vital social process. Using agent-based simulations in three "artificial societies" (one predominantly religious; one predominantly secular; and one in between), we demonstrate that worldview pluralism within one's neighborhood and family social networks can be a significant predictor of religious (dis)affiliation but in pluralistic societies worldview diversity is less important and, instead, people move toward worldview neutrality. Our results suggest that there may be two phases in religious disaffiliation: (1) the early adopters initially disaffiliate regardless of social support, and subsequently (2) disaffiliation spreads as support for it within local social networks widens and it appears more acceptable. An important next step is for sociologists to confirm or correct the theoretical findings of this model using real-world social-network data, which will require overcoming the measurement difficulties involved in estimating each individual's degree of local network pluralism.
ISSN:2053-6712
Contient:Enthalten in: Secularism and Nonreligion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.5334/snr.129