جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Religious gender gap » در نشریات گروه « علوم اجتماعی »

The sociological and psychological texts of religion and the descriptive data from numerous surveys and researches in different societies, including Iran, all indicate that in a wide range of measures, women are more religious than men. Nevertheless, explaining why is still a scientific puzzle. In the present research paper, we first try at the theoretical level with an analytical review of the theoretical explanations related to the religious gender gap in the sociological literature, to extract and formulate the main arguments of the theories of structural location, deprivation, socialization, and risk preferences/risk aversion in the form of research hypotheses. Then, at the empirical level, for confront these hypotheses with the data obtained from the national population of Iranian Muslims, the degree of conformity and correspondence of these theoretical predictions with the data and empirical evidence was evaluated and judged. The results of the research provided empirical support for theories of deprivation, socialization, and risk preferences/risk aversion; while structural location theory could not be empirically supported.

The statement that "women are more religious than men" is one of the few general statements that social scientists, especially sociologists of religion, have consensus on. Nevertheless, explaining why is considered a scientific puzzle, and several theories have been proposed to explain this gender gap in religiosity. This research paper was organized with the aim of examining the empirical validity of the theory of existential security in Iran, around the question of to what extent the indicators of existential security can explain the gender gap of religiosity in Iran? In this regard, the arguments of critical safety theory were first formulated in the form of research hypotheses. Then, by assign the unit of analysis to "province" and using the within country comparative method, the hypotheses were compared with the data of all provinces in Iran to assess the degree of conformity of the predictions of the theory with empirical evidence. Finally, the findings of the empirical test of the relationship between existential security and the gender gap of religiosity in Iran by within country comparative method and inter-provincial analysis showed that none of the hypotheses representing the theory of existential security are confirmed. In fact, the findings of this study failed to provide seriously and reliability support for the theory of existential security in explaining the gender gap of religiosity in the context of the Muslim population and the provinces of Iran.