Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Religious and Political Beliefs at the Individual Level and Across Generations

政治信仰和宗教信仰是如何以及为什么在个人层面甚至在家庭和世代之间联系在一起的？大多数学术研究将政治和宗教信仰体系视为独立的概念，很少关注它们可能有共同起源的可能性。然而，现有的研究表明，政治和宗教社会化发生在家庭中，政治和宗教特征部分是可遗传的，与宗教有关的政治态度比其他态度更一致地从父母传递给孩子。为什么在现有证据中存在这些模式？通过提出和测试一个新的理论模型来回答这个首要问题，这个理论模型表明政治和宗教信仰是建立在反映对社会秩序倾向的共同心理结构的基础上的。研究人员的目的是识别和测量这些倾向，评估它们对政治和宗教信仰的影响，并评估这种影响是天生的，社会化的产物，还是两者的结合。所使用的研究设计在许多方面不同于现有的宗教和政治态度的起源和传播分析。例如，几乎所有现有的政治社会化研究都集中在父母和孩子身上，而这个项目将分析带回第三代，调查祖父母、父母和孩子。个人结婚或为人父母不是一张白纸；他们也经历了某些信念和天生性格的传递。了解父母是否在代际之间充当“价值传递者”，可能有助于了解社会化过程，并为遗传效应提供证据。这个项目做出了几个更广泛的贡献。民意调查显示，在美国和许多民主国家，不同宗教传统的人倾向于以不同的方式投票。目前尚不清楚的是，宗教和政治信仰体系如何以及为什么在个人内部重叠，并在代际间传播。在解决这些未知问题的过程中，这个项目有可能揭示政治态度的起源和跨代信仰的稳定性。

How and why are political beliefs and religious beliefs linked together at the individual level and even within families and across generations? Most scholarship treats political and religious belief systems as independent concepts and devotes little attention to the possibility that they may have common origins. Yet existing research demonstrates that political and religious socialization occurs in families, that political and religious traits are partially heritable, and that political attitudes associated with religion are more consistently transmitted from parent to child than are other attitudes. Why do these patterns in the available evidence exist?To answer its overarching question by proposing and testing a new theoretical model that suggests that political and religious beliefs are grounded in a common psychological construct reflecting dispositions towards social order. The researcher aims to identify and measure these dispositions, assess their influence over political and religious beliefs, and assess whether this influence is innate, a product of socialization, or a combination of both.The research design used differs from existing analyses of the origins and transmission of religious and political attitudes in a number of ways. For example, almost all existing political socialization studies focus on parents and children, whereas this project brings the analysis back to a third generation and surveys grandparents, parents, and children. Individuals do not enter marriage or parenthood with blank slates; they also have experienced the transmission of certain belief sets and innate dispositions. Understanding whether parents are serving as "value relays" between generations may shed light on socialization processes as well as provide evidence for heritability effects.This project makes several broader contributions. Public opinion polls have shown in the US and in many democracies that people from different religious traditions tend to vote differently. What is unknown is how and why religious and political belief systems overlap within individuals and are inter-generationally transmitted. In addressing these unknowns, this project has the potential to shed light on the origins of political attitudes and the stability of beliefs across generations.