Abstract

Within the sociology of religion, the relation between religious involvement and ethnocentrism has been a major topic of research, already since the work of Gordon Allport (1958). While most studies demonstrate a positive relation between religious involvement and ethnocentrism, others assume that religion could have a negative impact on ethnocentrism. Using the results of a 1991 survey, Billiet (1995) demonstrated that among Flemish respondents, religious involvement effectively reduces ethnocentrism. In this article, we replicate the Billiet study, by constructing a structural equation model for the relation between religious involvement and ethnocentrism. The analysis is based on the 2004 wave of the European Social Survey. Contrary to the Billiet study, we do not find a significant relation between religious involvement and ethnocentrism, at least not among Catholic believers. It is only among Protestant believers that we can observe a significant negative effect between religious involvement and ethnocentrism. In the conclusion we argue that differences between the various Christian denominations should be considered more explicitly in the ongoing research about the relation between religion and ethnocentrism.

How to Cite:

Hooghe, M. & Reeskens, T., (2006) “Kerkelijke betrokkenheid, vertrouwen en etnocentrisme: een vergelijkende studie onder christelijke gelovigen in Europa”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 27(3), 263–284. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86660