Title

Religion as Culture: Religious Individualism and Collectivism Among American Catholics, Jews, and Protestants

School/Department

Rosemead School of Psychology

Publication Date

8-2007

Abstract

We propose the theory that religious cultures vary in individualistic and collectivistic aspects of religiousness and spirituality. Study 1 showed that religion for Jews is about community and biological descent but about personal beliefs for Protestants. Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity were intercorrelated and endorsed differently by Jews, Catholics, and Protestants in a pattern that supports the theory that intrinsic religiosity relates to personal religion, whereas extrinsic religiosity stresses community and ritual (Studies 2 and 3). Important life experiences were likely to be social for Jews but focused on God for Protestants, with Catholics in between (Study 4). We conclude with three perspectives in understanding the complex relationships between religion and culture.

Keywords

Religion and culture; Collectivism

Publication Title

Journal of Personality

Volume

75

Issue

4

First Page

709

Last Page

742

DOI of Published Version

10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00454.x.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS