Research on religiosity in western societies is mostly focused on
Christians. It tends to show a decline in religiosity in Europe, interpreted as increasing secularisation in the modern world. Muslims in West European countries mostly originate from Islamic societies, where participation in religious activities is considered the norm. This study considers the process of acculturation; the hypothesis to be tested is that Muslims might adapt to the norms of a post-Christian secular society by reducing the extent of their religious commitment, as indicated by attendance at mosque or religious meetings.
According to the integration or the assimilation theory, we expect that the longer the Muslims have lived in a secular host country the more likely they are to have become secular in their world-view. In similar vein, we compare the religiosity of first and second generation. Other factors to be taken into account include gender, educational attainment, economic position and neighbouring factors.
The study compares Muslims in two West European countries: the Netherlands and United Kingdom. In the UK, the data source will be the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities. In the Netherlands, we use the SPVA surveys of 1998 and 2002, cross-section surveys of ethnic minorities.
Our preliminary analyses show similar results in religiosity of Muslims in the Netherlands and the UK. That is, men attend religious meetings more often than women; those who arrived at a young age to the country of destination go to religious meetings more often than people who arrived later in their life. Results show differences in religiosity among Muslim groups from different origin countries in the Netherlands and the UK. Not only similar but also different results were found for the Netherlands and the UK in factors related to Muslim religiosity. In the Netherlands, people with higher level of education attend religious meetings significantly less often than people with lower level of education whereas no significant educational differences were found for the UK.
Presented by:
Ayse Güveli (Department of Sociology) and Lucinda Platt (Institute for Social and Economic Research)
Date & time:
March 4, 2009 1:00 pm - March 4, 2009 2:00 pm
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