Religion and Deviance among Adult Catholics: A Test of the "Moral Communities" Hypothesis

Welch, Michael; Tittle, Charles R.; Petee, Thomas A.

doi:10.2307/1387210

Cited by 122 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Another aspect of appropriate social behavior used in this research area is cheating. Here, the results are also pointing in the direction of a negative relationship (Grasmick, Kinsey, & Cochran, 1991;Welch, Tittle, & Petee, 1991).…”

Section: Appropriate Social Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 52%

Religion and Mental Health: Aspects of the Relation between Religious Measures and Positive and Negative Mental Health

Janssen

Bänziger

Dezutter

et al. 2005

Archive for the Psychology of Religion

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Studies concerning the relationship between religion and mental health have provided substantial evidence for the existence of a positive relationship. Nevertheless, it remains largely unclear which aspects of both religion and mental health take part in this relationship. The present study uses multiple measures of religion and of mental health to obtain a more refined view of this relationship. The results show the importance of distinguishing between if a person believes (inclusion vs. exclusion of transcendence) and how a person believes (literal vs. symbolic). Religious persons who have a symbolic attitude towards religion scored higher on positive aspects of mental health (well-being). No significant results were found for negative mental health (psychological distress).

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Section: Appropriate Social Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 52%

Religion and Mental Health: Aspects of the Relation between Religious Measures and Positive and Negative Mental Health

Janssen

Bänziger

Dezutter

et al. 2005

Archive for the Psychology of Religion

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“…In contrast, in the other investigation, which used the same data set but different measures of key variables, individual-level religiosity was negatively related to projected or future tax fraud (Welch, Tittle, and Patee 1991). Group-level religiosity was also related to projected tax fraud.…”

Section: Studies On Religion and Tax Fraudmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…A search through online databases (sociological abstracts, criminal justice abstracts) and other sources uncovered only five studies on tax fraud that included a measure of religiosity (Grasmick, Bursik, and Cochran 1991;Grasmick, Kinsey, and Cochran 1991;Patee, Milner, and Welch 1994;Tittle and Welch 1983;Welch, Tittle, and Patee 1991). A sixth study by Tittle (1977) includes church attendance in a much larger index of differential association, which, in turn, is related to the incidence of tax fraud.…”

Section: Studies On Religion and Tax Fraudmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Religiosity on Tax Fraud Acceptability: A Cross‐National Analysis

Stack¹,

Kposowa²

2006

Scientific Study of Religion

103

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Religion provides an important basis for social integration and the prevention of deviant behavior, such as tax fraud, a crime that costs society billions of dollars in lost revenue. The literature on tax fraud and tax fraud acceptability (TFA) has neglected religiosity as a social bond that may deter this type of behavior. Furthermore, existing work is based on the United States; there are no systematic cross-national studies. In particular, there is no research exploring the "moral communities" hypothesis that religiosity's effect on deviance will vary according to the strength of national moral communities. The present study addresses these two gaps in the literature by analyzing data on 45,728 individuals in 36 nations from the World Values Surveys. We control for other predictors of TFA, including social bonds, economic strain, and demographic factors. The results determined that the higher the individual's level of religiosity, the lower the TFA. Results on the moral community's hypothesis were mixed. However, in a separate analysis of individual nations, the presence of a "moral community" (majority of the population identifies with a religious group) explained 39 percent of the variation in the presence or absence of the expected religiosity-TFA relationship. Furthermore, the presence of a communist regime in a nation, often known for the oppression of religious groups who then may view the regime as illegitimate, diminished the impact of religion on TFA.One consequence of high levels of religiosity in society can be low rates of deviant behavior, including tax fraud. The significance of tax fraud can be assessed in its economic impact on government. It has become increasingly clear that the capacity of governments to raise revenue is substantially affected by tax evasion (e.g., Hessing et al. 1992:405-06). For example, 7.5 percent of Britain's gross national product escapes taxation while 17 percent of the taxable income in Belgium remains undeclared. In the United States, the amount of tax revenue lost to tax cheating is approximately 20 percent (Grasmick, Bursik, and Cochran 1991:255). A review of 18 studies found that, on average, 20 percent of the population of taxpayers acknowledges cheating on their income taxes. This may be an underestimate because IRS data sometimes report that 35 percent of the returns that they audit are marked by cheating (Hessing, Effers, and Weigel 1988). Hence, tax fraud is a crime with substantial economic consequences involving billions of dollars in lost revenue. This amount dwarfs the profits made in all robberies, larcenies, burglaries, and a host of other street crimes against property (e.g., Brown, Esbensen, and Geis 2001). In short, if the proportion of persons who cheat on their income taxes increases, tax revenues will fall, with economic consequences. Religion, however, has never been applied to the problem of explaining cross-national variation in cultural attitudes toward tax fraud. This article focuses on the importance of religion in shaping cultural attitude...

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“…They regard this regional variation as empirical evidence for Stark's (1987) "moral communities" hypothesis, which states that individual religiosity influences behavior only when it is reinforced by a cohesive religious community. The moral communities theory is directly supported by results from a few studies (Welch, Tittle, & Petee, 1991;Stark, Doyle, and Kent, 1980). Although these studies make use of ecological data, Stark and Bainbridge (1998: 64-65) and Evans and colleagues (1995) …”

mentioning

confidence: 87%

Individual Religiosity, Moral Community, and Drug User Treatment

Richard¹,

Bell²,

Carlson³

2000

Scientific Study of Religion

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Some scholars have suggested that individual religiosity inhibits deviant behavior. Others have suggested thatbehavior is more responsive to the influence of religiously-oriented moral communities than to the religiosity of individuals. Still others have suggested that non-religious moral communities, such as sports teams or self-help recovery groups, are just as effective as religious moral communities. The current article examines the associations between addicts' reductions in drug and alcohol use and religiosity, increase in church attendance, and increase in addiction self-help recovery group attendance, following participation in publicly funded treatment programs. Results indicate that increase in self-help recovery group attendance and church attendance were independently associated with reduction in alcohol use. Only increase in church attendance was significantly associated with reduction in cocaine use. Self-assessed religious conviction was not associated with changes in drug use.Three decades have passed since the results of the Travis Hirschi -Rodney Stark (1969) "Hellfire and Delinquency" study shattered scholarly consensus on the relationship between religion and social deviance. Religious respondents in Hirschi and Stark's sample were found to be just as likely as non-religious respondents to commit delinquent acts. Their findings were supported by Burkett and White (1974) for most areas of delinquent behavior, but were at least partially contradicted by Albrecht and colleagues (1977). The question of the influence of religion on behavior has not been settled in the intervening decades. Some studies conclude that individual religiosity deters delinquent conduct (Peek, Curry, and Chalfant, 1985;Benda, 1994;Burkett 1993; Cochran, Wood, and Arnklev, 1994), while others suggest that religiosity has no independent effect on most delinquent behaviors Ross, 1994).Recently, Stark and William Bainbridge (1998: 70-71) have noted that the results of studies on religion and deviance are consistent within regions of the United States, but differ between regions. Specifically, they note that church attendance rates for the Pacific coast, where the null results studies were conducted, are far lower than for other regions of the country. They regard this regional variation as empirical evidence for Stark's (1987) "moral communities" hypothesis, which states that individual religiosity influences behavior only when it is reinforced by a cohesive religious community. The moral communities theory is directly supported by results from a few studies (Welch, Tittle, & Petee, 1991;Stark, Doyle, and Kent, 1980). Although these studies make use of ecological data, Stark and Bainbridge (1998: 64-65) and Evans and colleagues (1995)

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Religion and Deviance among Adult Catholics: A Test of the "Moral Communities" Hypothesis

Cited by 122 publications

References 17 publications

Religion and Mental Health: Aspects of the Relation between Religious Measures and Positive and Negative Mental Health

Religion and Mental Health: Aspects of the Relation between Religious Measures and Positive and Negative Mental Health

The Effect of Religiosity on Tax Fraud Acceptability: A Cross‐National Analysis

Individual Religiosity, Moral Community, and Drug User Treatment

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