Looking for sociological/psych papers on christian fundamentalists

[Vex]

I don't feel like this is exactly the right place to ask, but I literally cannot find anywhere else to do so!

So I finally have a chance at uni to incorporate my interest in fundies into my study of criminology. I'm taking a class on deviance and I've chosen to use fundies as an example of people violating societal norms. I have tons of resources in terms of books written by both ex-fundies and current fundies (such as No Longer Quivering or TTUaC), as well as blogs that I can directly quote. I've also found quite a lot of stuff in my sociology texts that pertains to the behaviour of extreme religious groups. I have a solid foundation.

What I would really like, though, are peer-reviewed papers on Christian fundamentalists. It's not too hard to find papers on religious extremists in general, but I'd really like to find some solid papers on Christian fundamentalists in particular for reference. I'm looking for papers that examine the behaviour (and in particular, the expectations of behaviour) of fundies from a sociological, anthropological or a psychological perspective.

I want to make it clear I am not asking for anyone to do my research for me! I just know people here are far more knowledgeable on the subject than I am and I'm hoping some of you guys might know of some books or papers on the subject you could mention by name that I could research independently. I haven't found anything that's especially helpful yet, and I'm hoping some academics/ex-fundies here might have access to some papers or studies that I can look into obtaining.

I really hope this doesn't come across as me wanting other people to find work for me, my resources are just a bit limited and if I know the title of some studies or papers I can always ask my professor with help in actually obtaining them.

 

 

[Whoosh]

I'm including abstracts for 3 recent studies I have on this computer. 

“Thou shalt not kill”: Religious fundamentalism, conservatism, and rule-based moral processing. 

To Love or Hate Thy Neighbor: The Role of Authoritarianism and Traditionalism in Explaining the Link Between Fundamentalism and Racial Prejudice

Religious Fundamentalism and Hostility against Out-groups: A Comparison of Muslims and Christians in Western Europe

You should be able to access the full papers possibly online or through either your University library or interlibrary loan.  Even if these don't interest you, they may well cite articles that are more of what you are looking for.  Also, check out the research databases PsychLit (Psychology) and ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center).  Message me if you get stuck.

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“Thou shalt not kill”: Religious fundamentalism, conservatism, and rule-based moral processing. 

Antonenko Young, Olga; Willer, Robb; Keltner, Dacher 

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Vol 5(2), May 2013, 110-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0032262

Abstract

Moral judgments are highly influenced by religious and political ideologies. Here we propose that, in addition to shaping opinions on domain-specific issues, religious and political ideologies also entail distinct approaches to moral reasoning. Specifically, we argue that both Christian fundamentalism and political conservatism are associated with rule-based moral processing. This style of moral processing involves solving moral problems through quick and unequivocal application of previously established moral codes. We test these hypotheses by examining responses to abstract moral dilemmas that pit rule-based moral processing against more flexible consequentialist moral processing outside the political and religious arenas. Across five dilemmas, Christian fundamentalism and political conservatism were associated with the use of rule-based moral processing. Notably, both ideologies continued to predict the use of rule-based moral processing when the other was held constant, suggesting that, while correlated, each makes a unique contribution to the use of rule-based processing in solving moral dilemmas. These findings reflect and expand previous insights into the cognitive traits of political conservatives and religious fundamentalists while offering new avenues for exploring how these traits influence contested moral issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

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To Love or Hate Thy Neighbor: The Role of Authoritarianism and Traditionalism in Explaining the Link Between Fundamentalism and Racial Prejudice

Mark J. Brandt1 and

Christine Reyna2

Article first published online: 30 SEP 2013

© 2013 International Society of Political Psychology

Issue 

Political Psychology

Volume 35,  Issue 2, pages 207–223, April 2014

Fundamentalism is consistently related to racial prejudice (Hall, Matz, & Wood, 2010), yet the mechanisms for this relationship are unclear. We identify two core values of fundamentalism, authoritarianism and traditionalism, that independently contribute to the fundamentalism-racial prejudice relationship. We also contextualize the fundamentalism-racial prejudice relationship by suggesting that fundamentalists may show prejudice based on conceptions of African Americans as violating values but show tolerance when prejudice is less justifiable. These ideas are tested and confirmed using three data sets from the American National Election Studies. Across all three samples, fundamentalism is related to increases in symbolic racism but decreases in negative affect towards African Americans, and these relationships are mediated by both authoritarianism and traditionalism.

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Religious Fundamentalism and Hostility against Out-groups: A Comparison of Muslims and Christians in Western Europe

Ruud Koopmans*

pages 33-57

Publishing models and article dates explained

Published online: 21 Jul 2014

Abstract

On the basis of an original survey among native Christians and Muslims of Turkish and Moroccan origin in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Sweden, this paper investigates four research questions comparing native Christians to Muslim immigrants: (1) the extent of religious fundamentalism; (2) its socio-economic determinants; (3) whether it can be distinguished from other indicators of religiosity; and (4) its relationship to hostility towards out-groups (homosexuals, Jews, the West, and Muslims). The results indicate that religious fundamentalist attitudes are much more widespread among Sunnite Muslims than among native Christians, even after controlling for the different demographic and socio-economic compositions of these groups. Alevite Muslims from Turkey, by contrast, show low levels of fundamentalism, comparable to Christians. Among both Christians and Muslims, strong religiosity as such is not (among Christians) or only mildly (among Muslims) related to hostility towards out-groups. Fundamentalist believers, however, show very high levels of out-group hostility, especially among Muslims.

 

[Whoosh]

One more thing - not the greatest IMO, but cites stuff you might find interesting.

http://politicsandculture.org/2010/04/29/evolution-and-a-dual-processing-theory-of-culture-applications-to-moral-idealism-and-political-philosophy/

[Vex]

Thank you so much! 'Thou shalt not kill' is absolutely ideal for my paper. I'm basically examining modern societal expectations in the US and how fundies deviate from those norms. Their morals and how they contrast with those of non-fundies as well as how fundies apply them within their own communities are a major part of explaining fundie norms and the sanctions they impose upon those who don't follow them. Obviously, when you examine what society at large's expectations of behaviour (especially in young people) are compared to what fundies expect their morals are a huge part of their judgement process and those raised in fundamentalism will have a different set of internalised norms to those coming in from outside.

I really appreciate the suggestions and I'll look into all of them, especially the first. I also really appreciate the offer of assistance. I'll check and see if I can find access to the full studies through my uni. The link you gave me looks promising too, so thank you for that!

[RabbitKM]

Your paper sounds super interesting! What field of study are you in?  I am also in psych, and in undergrad, I did a paper that looked at the moral development of religious cult members.  I compared their development with Kohlberg's stages of moral development.  I didn't use any peer reviewed articles directly about fundies, but I was fascinated with a fundie memoir that I used to provide some context to my paper.  I found more info about cults in general, so I just kinda went with that.

Anyway, I know this wasn't helpful to your needs, but just felt like contributing some solidarity to your endeavor! 

[Whoosh]

I would also be interested in hearing about how the research goes and anything interesting you learn.  It really is a very interesting topic and has a huge impact on all kinds of aspects of life.

[DaffyDill]

Oh wow @Vex- it all sounds fascinating! One of my kids is thinking of going back to uni as mature age (he's been working since he left school after HSC because he had no clue what he wanted to do), and he's interested in doing Criminology. How are you finding it?

[jaelh]

Vex, I am currently reading (and loving) Bonaventura de Sousa Santos' "if god were a human rights activist". 

It's not quite what you're looking for (he's law/sociology) - but I think it's actually very close to what you're on about though rather than focus on deviation he looks at fundamentalism as an epistemologically complete world view which leads to conduct that deviates from standard models. 

(side note - if anyone wants to read good stuff, he's hard work but damn Santos is the Man, seriously). 

[Vex]

On 10/3/2016 at 2:31 PM, DaffyDill said:

Oh wow @Vex- it all sounds fascinating! One of my kids is thinking of going back to uni as mature age (he's been working since he left school after HSC because he had no clue what he wanted to do), and he's interested in doing Criminology. How are you finding it?

I really love it. I actually changed from doing a bachelor of arts to a bachelor of arts/science so that I could do criminology as my minor when my university began offering it. I want to work in forensic science after I get my masters. I would have made it my major if I hadn't already sunk so much into my current one (which is archaeology and paeleoanthropology).

At my uni there's a pretty diverse range of topics you can study in criminology. You can do forensic subjects, psychology subjects, legal subjects and sociology subjects. My main interest is studying forensic sciences, but I'm also really strongly drawn to the psych/sociological elements of criminology. I find people who are outside of the law/society's expectations to be fascinating so being able to do subjects that cater to my personal interests alongside courses relevant to my chosen career path is fantastic!

If he's interested in criminology I'd definitely recommend studying it. There are some unis (including mine) that will let you take classes without actually pursuing a degree there so that's an option if he wants to do a couple of units and see how it suits him.

@RabbitKM I'm doing a double major in archaeology and paeleoanthropology and I'm minoring in criminology. My current class is sociology rather than psych, but I have done some criminal psych units and it's such a fascinating area!

@jaelh That sounds interesting and I'll check it out, thank you. Unfortunately my entire unit is on deviation, so that's kind of an important element to the info I'm looking for. I will take a look out of curiosity though!

My professor was very encouraging about my topic, which was nice. He's also let me know that I can use blogs and books as references so that will help a lot. I'm specifically focusing on baptist fundies so I'm totally looking for a way to work PP into this. I'm sure he would love a mention in a sociology paper about why he's a deviant.

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone