Social Stratification and Church Attendance in Contemporary Italy

Abstract

Research limitations/Implications – The findings give support to the classical secularization thesis, despite the many critiques addressed to it since the 1990s. Given that Italy is one of the most religious Western countries, this is a quite important finding. Some support is also given to the hypothesis of religion as an ‘instrumentum regni’, according to which it is in the interest of the higher social strata to be more religious, as religion supports and legitimates existing patterns of social inequality. Findings concerning cohorts point to socialization as the actual mechanism changing behaviours and attitudes.

Citation

Ballarino, G. and Vezzoni, C. (2012), "Social Stratification and Church Attendance in Contemporary Italy", Keister, L.A., Mccarthy, J. and Finke, R. (Ed.) Religion, Work and Inequality (Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 23), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 311-335. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-2833(2012)0000023016

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