ERIC Number: EJ960128
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Sep
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7732
EISSN: N/A
Substitution or Symbiosis? Assessing the Relationship between Religious and Secular Giving
Hill, Jonathan P.; Vaidyanathan, Brandon
Social Forces, v90 n1 p157-180 Sep 2011
Research on philanthropy has not sufficiently examined whether charitable giving to religious causes impinges on giving to secular causes. Examining three waves of national panel data, we find that the relationship between religious and secular giving is generally not of a zero-sum nature; families that increase their religious giving also increase their secular giving. We argue that this finding is best accounted for by a practice theory of social action which emphasizes how religious congregations foster skills and practices related to charitable giving. We also argue that denominational variation in the influence of religious giving is best accounted for by the financial structuring of the denomination. We conclude with the implications for studies of religious causal influence more generally.
Descriptors: Social Action, Theory Practice Relationship, Private Financial Support, Correlation, Religion, Religious Cultural Groups, Attribution Theory
Oxford University Press. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, UK. Tel: +44-1865-353907; Fax: +44-1865-353485; e-mail: jnls.cust.serv@oxfordjournals.org; Web site: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/sf
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A

Peer reviewed
Direct link
