"Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction"

Worshipers at Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church in New Orleans

Heart of Zen group, Loyola University, Maryland

Muslims at prayer in Minneapolis-St.Paul airport

Roman Catholic ritual

Christians pray outside Democratic Convention in Washinton, DC

As social creatures, the longing to feel connection and belong to a group is very prevalent in our species. Whatever our spiritual beliefs are, even if we believe we don't have any, the experience feels private and personal. However at the same time, for large numbers of folks, the social aspects of religion and spirituality are very important. One reason why one might value belonging to a religious group is that having other people who think and believe in a similar way is very supportive and validating of our own identity and thoughts. If one has a network of friends and acquaintances that share views on caring and supporting, this can give one a deep faith in goodness and other moral virtues, as well as a practical security, knowing that one has friends for other kinds of support. I can speak from personal experience, because I belonged to a spiritual/religious group for many years.

Today I would like to look at the article, "Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction," published by American Sociological Review (C. Lim and R. Putnam, 2010) that presents and interprets the Faith Matters study (2006-2007) in a new way. They claim that their new approach to the research study does contribute to revealing "the mechanisms of religion's influence on quality of life and contributes to the development of theoretical frameworks that enable us to understand how religion affects people's lives." Lim is a professor in the Dept. of Sociology at University of Wisconsin and Putnam is a political scientist, professor of public policy at Harvard, and an author of several books (including one on religion entitled American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, 2012).

The authors discuss the view of classical sociologists, Durkheim and Simmel, who brought forth the logical-sounding argument that "religious involvement enhances subjective well-being because religious organizations offer opportunities for social interactions between like-minded people, nurturing friendships and social ties." Lim and Putnam say that their research methods provide some empirical evidence for this view, where previous research could not. They include several tables illustrating the study's results in a range of variable areas, and use discussion, explanations, and comparisons.

One question that arose for them was the idea that there is something about religious social ties that makes them stronger than non-religious social ties. They mentioned some research done with political activist groups in this regard. However, they concluded more comprehensive research is needed in order to really answer this question. Here are their remarks:

"Even if social networks in non-religious contexts could have a similar effect on life satisfaction as that of congregational friendships, it is difficult to think of any non-religious organizations in the United States that are comparable to congregations in scale and scope of membership base, intensity of member participation in collective rituals, and strength of identity that members share. Even if social networks and identities forged in non-religious organizations could have benefits comparable to those we found here, congregations are nevertheless unique among American voluntary organizations as a source of life satisfaction."

This article gives more food for thought on the topic of the role religion plays in American society.


Cited: Lim, Chaeyoon and Robert D. Putnam. "Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction." American Sociological Review. 75:6 (Dec. 2010): 914-933. Web. 18 May 2013 <asr.sagepub.com>