Membership (Gender, Class, Ethnicity and Religion)

Gender:

• most church goers are females and are more likely to attend church
• females outnumber men by 5000
• 54% of women to 41% of men say that they have a religion
• 38% of women to 36% of men say that religion is important to them
• 34% of women to 54% of men are athiests or agnostic - British Social Attitudes survey
• more women describe themselves as being spiritual
• Miller and Hofman - men are more risk averse, take the risk of rejecting religion, risking that there is a hell and God by saying that they don't believe in it
• women are socialised to be obedient, caring ans passive and these traits are values by religion, traditional gender roles and patriarchy
• Bruce - women work less time (traditionally) so they have more time to dedicate to a religion and go to church
• working class women are more likely to turn to deterministic religions whereas the middle class are more likely to turn to new age religions
• new age religions - natural and healing cults which gives women a higher status and self-worth
• women - child rearing, expressive, caring for others
• women taking on caring role, young and elderly, birth and death
• high levels of women in sects - Stark and Bainbridge
• women are more likely to experience organismic deprivation - ill health, turn to healing sects
• ethical deprivation
• social deprivation - sects attract poorer groups, women are more likely to be poor
• Islam - men tend to be more religious, some prayers are only men so they may be more active in going to the mosque, may just be because it can be seen more

Class:

• 62% middle class attendance
• 38% lower class church attendance
• middle class are less likely to believe in God than working class
• church attendance higher in South rural England
• sects have a higher working class membership but churches and cults have a higher middle class membership
• working class - hope of an afterlife, harder life (deprivation) so more likely to believe in God
• sects - theodicy of disprivilege has lesd to an increase in working class membership, compensation for this life so they are rewarded in the afterlife
• …