Rebecca Sager Loyola Marymount University
The United States has a certain level of secularization within the public sphere and religious involvement in civic life is a vital source of political and community involvement. This involvement can take various forms including creating social movement organizations with agendas based on religious ideals and using religious messages in the hopes of persuading voters. This project studies the relationship between religion and political interactions. The PI will analyze data collected through field research and interviews at a liberal evangelical social movement organization, during the Presidential campaign in 2008 to answer three main research questions: How is religion used as a social movement strategy? How do people negotiate through interaction their religious and political viewpoints? Why are some religious messages perceived as more valid than others? While current research on religion and social movements has offered an increased understanding of the role of religion in creating frames around perceived religious beliefs of members, the processes of social movement interaction are often much more complex, and much less strategic, than is accounted for by the theoretical notion of frames. The study examines the processes and mechanisms by which people put actions and words together, a research strategy that will expand social movement theory.
Additionally, this study will help shed light on key applied questions about what it is that motivates and sways voters. Is it the ideas created by social movement leaders that attract voters, or is it the invitation to be part of a shared cultural and religious identity? What assumptions do we make about religion and how it matters to others? Answers to these questions are important to the numerous audiences who have a stake in understanding why people vote the way that they do. In addition, researching the subject may be especially important when considering policy development and its impact on underrepresented communities. A change in political leadership based on social movement action from the religious left could lead to substantive changes in state and social policy, as well as larger cultural trends.
