Research Catalog

Title

Why are women more religious than men? / Marta Trzebiatowska and Steve Bruce.

Author

Trzebiatowska, Marta.

Publication

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Supplementary Content

Publisher description

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Bruce, Steve, 1954-

Description

vii, 205 p.; 23 cm.

Summary

"Women are more religious than men. Despite being excluded from leadership positions, in almost every culture and religious tradition, women are more likely than men to pray, to worship, and to claim that their faith is important to them. Women also dominate the world of 'New Age' spirituality and are far more superstitious than men. This book reviews the now-sizeable body of social research to consider if the gender gap in religion is indeed universal. Marta Trzebiatowska and Steve Bruce extensively critique competing explanations of the differences found. They conclude that the gender gap is not the result of biology but is rather the consequence of important social differences overlapping and reinforcing each other. Responsibility for managing birth, child-rearing and death, for example, and attitudes to the body, illness, and health, each play a part. In the West, the gender gap is exaggerated because the social changes that undermined the plausibility of religion bore most heavily on men first. Where the lives of men and women become more similar, and where religious indifference grows, the gender gap gradually disappears. Written in an accessible style whilst drawing some robust conclusions, the book's main purpose is to serve as a state-of-the-art review for those interested in one of the largest differences between male and female behaviour."--Dust jacket.

Subject

• Women and religion
• Women > Religious life
• Religiousness

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [180]-199) and index.

Contents

The great divide -- New religions -- Spirits and bodies -- Spirituality -- Conservative religion -- Biology, roles, and attitudes -- Risk -- Ways of life -- Secularization -- The sum of small differences.

Call Number

JFD 13-3419

ISBN

• 9780199608102
• 0199608105

LCCN

2012460026

OCLC

780482793

Author

Trzebiatowska, Marta.

Title

Why are women more religious than men? / Marta Trzebiatowska and Steve Bruce.

Imprint

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Edition

1st ed.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (p. [180]-199) and index.

Connect to:

Publisher description

Table of contents only

Added Author

Bruce, Steve, 1954-

Research Call Number

JFD 13-3419