Research project Why do they stay in the Church?

elective courses

It assumes

(1) interest in the issues of sociology of religion

(2) basic proficiency in analyzing survey data, and

(3) basic proficiency in conducting in-depth interviews.

(4) Passive knowledge of English is essential, as some of the reading is in English.

Classroom

The research project Why do they stay in the Church? aims to try to answer the question. It will be undertaken in two ways. First, by analyzing and interpreting available sociological survey data. Second, by planning and carrying out small-scale qualitative research - through interviews with young people who - despite the prevailing tendencies in metropolitan youth circles to abandon religious practices, distance themselves and leave the Church - remain in the Church and practice. For several years, sociologists have been diagnosing an accelerated departure from the Church and religion among young people and young adults in Poland. So the general trend is undeniable. All the more intriguing is who remains in the Church and why: are they remaining in the type of traditional religiosity, neotraditionalists (who choose tradition), or perhaps "religiously renewed"?

The Why Do They Stay in the Church project refers:

(1) to the research project that will be submitted to the NCN competition by a team of researchers (from doctoral students to professors), as well as

(2) to the research workshop conducted in the summer semester of the 2022/23 academic year Why do they leave the Church?

It aims to try to answer the question of why young people (some) - despite the prevailing tendencies in metropolitan youth circles to abandon religious practices, distance themselves and leave the Church - remain in the Church and practice.

For several years, sociologists have been diagnosing the accelerated departure from the Church and religion of youth and young adults in Poland. So the general trend is undeniable. All the more intriguing is who remains in the Church and why: are they traditional religious types, neotraditionalists (who choose tradition), or perhaps "religiously renewed"?

The project is based on a multi-method approach i.e. it has the ambition to use both quantitative (primarily survey) and qualitative (interviews) data. Therefore, an attempt will be made to answer the question posed in two ways. First, by analyzing and interpreting available survey sociological data. Second, by planning and carrying out small-scale qualitative research of our own - interviews with young people who remain in the Church and practice.

For several years, sociologists have been focusing on the process of accelerated disengagement from the Church and religion of youth and young adults in Poland. They have been much less concerned with describing and explaining, in theoretical terms, who and why young people remain in the Church and practice.

The analysis and research conducted in the course will be preceded by

(1) reading selected items of contemporary theoretical literature

and empirical literature on the sociology of religion, including important polemics conducted in recent years on the essence of secularization or the generational nature of the processes of leaving religion. (Selected items - below).

This will be followed by

(2) analyses of available survey data (primarily

conducted in 2021 by the CBOS of the National Bureau of Drug Prevention surveys of students in the last grades of secondary schools, and - if possible - also other data sets).

In the next stage, the following will be prepared and conducted

(3) interviews with young people, remain in the Church and practice

(in various ways).

They will aim to deepen knowledge of the mechanisms that "keep" young people in the Church and motivate religious practice. Among these mechanisms will be considered both institutions important for the practice of faith (families, schools, the Church), as well as phenomena of a social and cultural nature (individualization, the expanding range of lifestyles and types of religiosity, social ties and others), including those that participants in the class will add from their own experiences, observations and individual "reading" of the readings. The project will conclude with

(4) a presentation of the results obtained

Adopting a multi-method approach does not mean that everyone does everything: and analyze survey data, and implement a qualitative study. The work of this Research Project assumes that while students are to some extent competent in both survey and qualitative research, in the Why Do They Stay in Church? project they do what interests them and what they are more competent in. In contrast, in each case the research work culminates in the development of a research report.

Bengtson V. (et al.) (2015), Does Religiousness Increase with Age? Age Changes and Generational Differences Over 35 Years. “Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion” [dalej: JSSR] Volume 54, Issue 2

Burge P. R. (2021), The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going. Minneapolis: Fortress Press

Generations of Decline: Religious Change in 20th-Century Britain

Crockett A., D. Voas (2006), Generations of Decline: Religious Change in 20th-Century Britain. JSSR Volume 45, Issue 4

Grabowska M. (2021), Religijność młodych na tle ogółu społeczeństwa. Komunikat z badań CBOS nr 144/2021

Grabowska M., Gwiazda M. (red.) (2022), Młodzież 2021. „Opinie i Diagnozy” nr 49. Warszawa: CBOS

Houtman D., S. Aupers (2007), The Spiritual Turn and the Decline of Tradition: The Spread of Post-Christian Spirituality in 14 Western Countries, 1981–2000. JSSR Volume 46, Issue 3

Mandes S. (2021), Religijność i Kościół katolicki w życiu prywatnym i publicznym Polaków, w: Wartości w działaniu, pod red. M. Marody, WN Scholar, Warszawa, s. 211-240.

Schnittker J. (2002), When is Faith Enough? The Effects of Religious Involvement on Depression. JSSR Volume 40, Issue 3

Smith Ch. (2003), Theorizing Religious Effects Among American Adolescents. JSSR Volume 42, Issue 1

Smith Ch. (2014), Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church, Oxford University Press, rozdz. 4 i 5

Stolz J. (2020), Secularization theories in the twenty-first century: Ideas, evidence, and problems, “Social Compass” Vol. 67(2), s. 282-308

Taylor Ch., (2007), Oblicza religii dzisiaj. Znak, Kraków.

Thiessen J., S. Wilkins-Laflamme (2017), Becoming a Religious None: Irreligious Socialization and Disaffiliation. JSSR Volume 56, Issue 1

Wuthnow R. (2002), Religious Involvement and Status-Bridging Social Capital. JSSR Volume 41, Issue 4

Uwaga: lista lektur może ulec zmianom (skróceniu)

K_W07 Has in-depth knowledge of selected methods and techniques of social research, their limitations, specificity and areas of application

K_W08 Is aware of the importance of a reflective and critical approach to the results of social research, analyses and research procedures

K_W09 Knows how to plan and carry out complex qualitative and quantitative empirical research; is aware of the consequences of methodological choices

K_U01 Can identify causes and predict potential effects of past and current social events; can form critical judgments about current and past social events

K_U02 Can critically select information and materials for academic work, using various sources in Polish and a foreign language as well as modern technologies

K_U03 Can independently form and verify judgments about the causes of selected social phenomena

K_U04 Can use theoretical categories and research methods in the description and analysis of social and cultural changes in modern societies, as well as their consequences

K_U05 Can plan and carry out a social study using advanced quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques of social research

K_U10 Can prepare a presentation of a selected problem or study in Polish and in a foreign language

K_K01 Can initiate, plan, organize and manage work of a task team

K_K03 Can gather, find, synthesize and critically assess information about social sciences

K_K04 Can argue a thesis using scientific evidence

K_K05 Can undertake independent activity in public or personal interest

K_K06 Actively searches for new ways and sources to broaden his/her knowledge and improve professional competences

K_K08 Is aware of the existence of social dilemmas related to the work of the sociologist

K_K09 Is open to various theoretical and methodological perspectives of social research

K_K10 Takes responsibility for planned and performed tasks

Participation in discussion, preparation of a research project, implementation of the study, analysis of the collected material in the form of a written work – a research report