Voluntary choices, religious mobilization and political participation in America.

Abstract

Since the publication of Tocqueville's <italic>Democracy in America</italic> in 1835, scholars from a variety of disciplines have all emphasized the important role that churches and voluntary associations play in promoting democratic habits and behaviors. Although these studies have reached a consensus that social interactions in churches have a profound influence on citizens' political behaviors, most of these works do not consider how individuals choose churches in the first place. This omission is important because citizens who shop among churches are different from non-shoppers in terms of their social and political characteristics. In addition, churches do not exert uniform political influences on their congregants. Many studies of political participation, for example, do not provide evidence regarding how religious settings differ in terms of various social influence factors, and how these features might influence congregants' political behavior. My research addresses these shortcomings by developing and testing a theoretical model of political participation that views religious-based political mobilization as a function of individuals' purposeful religious choices <italic>and</italic> the mobilizing effects of religious social contexts. Rather than viewing religious institutions as starting points of the political mobilization process, I take a step backward and ask a number of related questions. For example, how do citizens choose between churches? Moreover, how do these choices influence their levels of political participation? What are the political implications of citizens' voluntary decisions to locate themselves in various church settings? Which types of religious social relations are more influential for political activism? How does church size influence social network effects and political involvement? Finally, how can scholars better measure the effects of religious social interactions on political participation? In pursuing these issues and developing a more coherent model of religious-based political activism, my research highlights the significant role that citizens' voluntary choices play in structuring the mobilizing effects of religious social contexts. In particular, my participation model builds upon previous studies by viewing citizens as having agency in their social and political lives, rather than being helpless victims of social contexts. Using in-depth interviews and quantitative analyses of national survey data, I demonstrate that citizens perceive and purposefully choose among the many religious options that are available to them. Moreover, my survey data analyses reveal that church shopping behavior and religious social interactions both have positive effects on individuals' participation in politics. Citizens who shopped among churches often possess qualities that are associated with greater levels of electoral participation. My results also show that among African-American church attenders, informal political discussions play a crucial role in mobilizing individuals for political action. Together, these findings contribute to our understanding of political participation in America by showing how citizens' religious decisions interact with social context effects to shape their civic and political behaviors.