Religious identity and social engagement

Well-developed bodies of research exist in the separate areas of religious identity and social engagement, but only a small selection of recent work is devoted to understanding their intersection. This dissertation adds to this selection by exploring the connections between religious identity and social engagement. More specifically, this work focuses on understanding the role that individual and collective interpretations of religious identity play in shaping the socio-psychological processes that influence whether, and in what capacity, individuals and groups devote themselves to social change. This work attempts to achieve four goals: 1) to explore the multilevel nature of religious identity within society; 2) to evaluate the effects of religious identity on social engagement; 3) to show the usefulness of quantitative methodologies to social movement research; and 4) to add to the body of research in the field of religion and social movements. I find that the relationship between religious identity and attitudes and behaviors related to social engagement is more complex than current approaches acknowledge.