Moral Landscapes: Religion, Secularism, and Symbolic Boundaries

<p>This dissertation is a comparison of three religious congregations and one secular congregation on the moral boundaries they use to understand themselves and others. Through a newly developed graphical instrument, in-depth interviews, and surveys, this dissertation shows that contemporary theories on how people use religiously oriented beliefs to separate themselves from others insufficiently capture the ideas, groups, and categories that are salient to people in making these distinctions. Ultimately, it argues that sociologists need to take into account the saliency and moralization of arguments and ideologies for individuals rather than assuming these things a priori or from fringe members of groups.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Josephsohn, Thomas Jose

• Atheism
• Comparative
• Morality
• Secularism
• Sociology of Religion
• Symbolic Boundaries
• Sociology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/420

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.luc.edu:luc_diss-1419