Social Class And Religion
Making Connections: Religion and Social Class
Since the earliest times of Before Common Era, several types of religion all over the world has been practiced. It is not until recently that researchers and critics have found a correlation between religion and social class. Things such as this are commonly demonstrated in Rudyard Kipling’s, Kim. Throughout the novel Kim, the author explores the experiences of his protagonist in order to analyze the ways in which social class and religion correlate within Indian culture and human relations in general. By examining various characters and their motivations, it can be assumed that Kipling was suggesting that the higher one’s social status, the higher the likelihood was of them being religious.
The …show more content…
In conclusion to his study, Schwadel found that evangelical Protestants tend to have lower education and income in comparison to those of other religious affiliations. Schwadel also noted that the “…most significant reduction in social class difference occurred between evangelical Protestants and those who are unaffiliated” (Reed, Leslie). In studies following Stoope’s as well as Schwadel’s, philosophers such as H. Richard Niebuhr have made the note that people from the lower class are more likely to be exempt from being affiliated with a concrete religion (Debrouse, Rachael). On the contrary, those who are middle and upper class members of society are more likely to be affiliated with religious affiliations. Niebuhr makes the claim that the “…lower class may have less room than those of the middle of upper classes to look outside of religion for answers to problematic economic situations” (DeBrouse, Rachael). All three observations lie centered around the same ideals: that there is an affiliation between religion and social class, and that the higher your social status in society is, the more likely you are to be religious. There is the exception of Schwadel’s study, in which he was able to conclude that evangelical Protestants in fact had lower education and
Since the earliest times of Before Common Era, several types of religion all over the world has been practiced. It is not until recently that researchers and critics have found a correlation between religion and social class. Things such as this are commonly demonstrated in Rudyard Kipling’s, Kim. Throughout the novel Kim, the author explores the experiences of his protagonist in order to analyze the ways in which social class and religion correlate within Indian culture and human relations in general. By examining various characters and their motivations, it can be assumed that Kipling was suggesting that the higher one’s social status, the higher the likelihood was of them being religious.
The …show more content…
In conclusion to his study, Schwadel found that evangelical Protestants tend to have lower education and income in comparison to those of other religious affiliations. Schwadel also noted that the “…most significant reduction in social class difference occurred between evangelical Protestants and those who are unaffiliated” (Reed, Leslie). In studies following Stoope’s as well as Schwadel’s, philosophers such as H. Richard Niebuhr have made the note that people from the lower class are more likely to be exempt from being affiliated with a concrete religion (Debrouse, Rachael). On the contrary, those who are middle and upper class members of society are more likely to be affiliated with religious affiliations. Niebuhr makes the claim that the “…lower class may have less room than those of the middle of upper classes to look outside of religion for answers to problematic economic situations” (DeBrouse, Rachael). All three observations lie centered around the same ideals: that there is an affiliation between religion and social class, and that the higher your social status in society is, the more likely you are to be religious. There is the exception of Schwadel’s study, in which he was able to conclude that evangelical Protestants in fact had lower education and