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The Effect of Religiosity on Political Attitudes in Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2015

Olena Bagno-Moldavski
Olena Bagno-Moldavski*
Affiliation:
Research Fellow, Institute for National Security Studies
*
Address correspondence and reprint request to: Olena Bagno-Moldavski, Institute for National Security Studies, 40 Haim Levanon Street, Tel Aviv 6997556, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article studies the influence of religion on political attitudes in Israel by testing two propositions: “religion-friendly” democratization and “greedy” socialization. The former implies that accommodation of religious demands stimulates democratization, the latter argues that domineering religious socialization does not motivate democratic attitudes. Analysis of data from representative surveys conducted in 2006–2013, supports “greedy” socialization over the “religion friendly” hypothesis. I show that in most instances, socialization in religion-friendly environments does not moderate the political attitudes of religiously conservative groups. The results suggest that unbounded accommodation of religious needs in non-religious institutions may strengthen undemocratic political attitudes.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 514 - 543
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2015 

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