Transcript Christianity and the University Experience’: Contexts and

Christianity and the University
Experience in Contemporary
England
Kristin Aune
S
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The Project in Brief
S The project explores how the university experience
shapes the identities of undergraduate students who
self-identify as Christian
S Taking university as a site of religious identity
construction, performance and negotiation
S Multi-site, across selected universities in England
(representative sample of HE sector).
S Duration: September 2009-August 2012
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Questionnaire Survey
Aims
Case Study Interviews
1. To identify the religious beliefs and social values of Christian
undergraduates
2. To explore the impact of the university experience –
educational, social and religious – on those beliefs and values,
and vice versa
3. To identify how organized Christian groups – from chaplaincies
to CUs – help students respond to the university experience,
and to examine their impact upon cohesion and division within
the student body
4. To address implications of these findings for HEIs, government
policy, and religious organizations
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Institutional types within the
higher education sector
1. Traditional, elite universities
2. Inner-city red-brick universities
3. 1960s campus universities
4. Post-1992 or ‘new’ universities
5. Cathedrals Group universities
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Sampling & participant
recruitment
Online survey
Random sample of 3,000
undergraduates from each university
(target = 15 universities, 3 in each of the
5 institutional types)
Negotiating access
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Case Studies
University of Derby
Durham University
University of Leeds
University of Chester
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University of Kent
Religious Affiliation
To which religion or spiritual tradition do you currently belong? Please choose the
one that fits best.
None
36.4%
Buddhism
2%
Christianity
51.8%
Hinduism
1.4%
Islam
2.7%
Judaism
0.7%
Sikhism
0.2%
Other
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4.8%
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Research context
S ‘What is your religion?’ 72% in 2001 UK Census ticked ‘Christian’
S ‘Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?’ 44%
said they were Christian in 2009 British Social Attitudes survey
S 6% attending church on a typical Sunday in 2005 English Church
Attendance survey
S Is the UK experiencing secularization?
S Callum Brown, David Voas & Steve Bruce
S Secularization: ‘the process whereby religious thinking, practices
and institutions lose social significance’ (Wilson 1966 Religion in
Secular Society, Penguin, p.xiv)
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Voas & Crockett on young people
& Christian decline
S 1990s British Household Panel survey: decline in affiliation,
belief & attendance
S Each age cohort is less religious than the last
S Explanations: fertility rates & failure of religious socialization
in the family
S Young people are the least religious group
S Voas, D. & Crockett, A. (2005) ‘Religion in Britain: Neither
Believing nor Belonging’, Sociology, 39(1): 11-28
S Counter arguments
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Religious, Spiritual or Neither?
Generally speaking, do you consider yourself to be...
Religious
39.5%
Not religious but spiritual
30%
Not religious or spiritual
16%
Not sure
14.5%
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During university vacations, I attend
church services
13
When I am at university, I attend
church services
14
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Since attending university, how has
your perspective on religion changed?
I have become more religious since being
at university
15%
I have become less religious since being at
university
13%
My perspective has generally stayed the
same
69%
I am not sure
3%
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S ‘In your view, and in your own words,
what does it mean to be a Christian?’
S Seven themes
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Christian belief
S ‘To believe and have faith in Jesus Christ and God our
father who we will live with once again.’
(black African female, 21, Derby)
S ‘To believe in God and try your best to be the best person
you can be while following Christian beliefs of everyone is
your neighbour’
(white female, 20, Sheffield)
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Christian practice: good, ethical &
moral conduct
S ‘Live a life helping others and not seeking personal gain
by capitulating to avarice and greed’
(white male, 26, Kent)
S ‘Being a good person’
(white female, 22, Kent)
S ‘To try and live by Christian values, to love everyone and
love God. To try to do good and reject evil in your own
individual life.’
(white & Asian female, 20, Sheffield)
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Christian practice: churchgoing,
Christian rites & mission
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‘To live each day in a manner worthy of Christ, to glorify
his name, and to spread the gospel’
(white male, 20, Cambridge)
S ‘being baptised in the name of Jesus Christ’
(black African female, 26+, Canterbury Christ Church)
S ‘To get married in a church (unfortunately that's all)’
(white female, 26+, Canterbury Christ Church)
S ‘To be part of a religious community’
(white & Asian male, 19, Cambridge)
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Christian practice: following God,
Jesus &/or the Bible
S ‘Following and committing, having a positive Christian presence
around others, sharing your faith if people ask, and having morals
and belief in the truth in the Bible’
(white female, 18, Winchester)
S ‘To be committed to Christ and to constantly strive to walk in the
light. To persevere’
(white male, 20, Cambridge)
S ‘It means to follow your religion and do as the Bible says to do. It is
about following the 10 commandments, being a good person and not
judging others. I also feel being a Christian does not mean that you
must preach about your Christianity to everyone and anyone, I feel if
someone is interested, it is your job to tell them what you believe but
not to forcefully tell people.’
(white female, 19, Derby)
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Experiential Christian spirituality
S ‘To be a Christian is to have a personal relationship with God – to
discuss your daily life with him, and to allow him to guide you in the
choices you make. It is similar to a relationship between friends, or
as a father and child. Each person’s relationship with God varies,
but all true Christians will share an underlying feeling of love and
patience’
(white female, 20, Kent)
S ‘It is a way of life, not just a Sunday thing. I enjoy having a daily cup
of tea with Jesus and a chat’
(white female, 26+, Kent)
S ‘Having someone to always turn to when you need to in God and
that your religious beliefs should not be proven by attending church
on a regular basis’
(white female, 21, Winchester)
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Subjective spirituality
S ‘to have faith in something you are constantly working to
understand, something to base your principles on.’
(white male, 20, Winchester)
S ‘It doesn’t matter what you believe in, so long as you believe
in it’
(white male, 21, Kent)
S ‘To have faith in the idea that life is not without meaning,
there is universal balance to the world we live in. Act
responsibly and take responsibility for your own actions.
Whether or not there is a God this is your chance to make a
difference for the better’
(black African male, 23, Derby) 23
Scepticism, cynicism &
uncertainty
S ‘Oppression’
(other white mixed ethnicity female, 19, Cambridge)
S ‘It means that you have been indoctrinated with a belief that is
irrational, dangerous and has been used throughout history, by
powerful men and women, to control the masses and justify evil
doings’
(white male, 20, Durham)
S ‘Honestly, the only things I participate in that are remotely Christian
are eating Easter eggs and opening presents on Christmas day, and
the Christian aspect of both these events is generally lost’
(white female, 20, UCL)
S ‘To me it means very little. I was brought up as a Catholic, attended a
Catholic school but due to things that have happened in my life I am
agnostic. I think religion can be comforting for those who have it but
for me being a Christian means nothing.’
(white female, 19, Durham)
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In your view, and in your own
words, what does it mean to be a
Christian?
% of Christians
identifying each
theme (N = 2337)
Christian Belief
33%
Christian Practice: Good, Ethical & Moral
Conduct
29%
Christian Practice: Following God, Jesus
&/or the Bible
28%
Experiential Christian spirituality
23.5%
Scepticism, cynicism & uncertainty
11%
Subjective Spirituality
9%
Christian Practice: Churchgoing,
Christian rites & mission
8%
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Conclusions
S A significant proportion of students – nearly half – affiliate in some
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way to Christianity
For most, Christianity is a relatively stable identity during university
A minority of Christian students retain ‘Christian’ only as a label
(denoting family history, culture, tradition, national identity etc.)
A minority express a subjective or agnostic form of Christianity
A minority see church-related activities as central to their faith
Larger proportions express forms of Christianity centred around:
S Christian belief; following God, Jesus and/or the Bible; good, ethical
& moral conduct; & an experiential faith
S Emphasis on Christianity as practice
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Questions
S How does Christianity retain its significance for students who
don’t attend church?
S Is this ‘vicarious religion’? (Davie 2007, 2010)
S How do discourses about Christianity, the secular & the
university experience shape students’ subjectivities?
S What significance do embodied practices hold? How is
students’ religious habitus formed and sustained?
S How should we measure religiosity, when existing frameworks
neglect some of the aspects of religion that matter to students?
S Tweed, T. 2006 Crossing and Dwelling, Harvard University Press
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Ethnicity and Class in the
Christian student experience:
questions
S How significant are class & ethnicity in shaping Christian
students’ university experiences?
S Does Christianity help students reinforce or challenge
social divisions and inequalities?
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Social class
S Survey findings: little evidence that class shapes
religiosity, apart from:
S Students with highly educated parents exhibit more religious
change during university
S Interview data: class does, at times, figure
S Class as a ‘zombie category’ (Beck)
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Durham University
S “I think your classic Durham student is 18 to 21, white,
middle class, probably – I don’t know about their religious
beliefs, you know, probably nominally Christian. Their
upbringing probably, yeah, upper middle class. …I mean
obviously there is a diversity, that is a massive
generalisation. But at the same time… I was surprised
when I came how many people there were that had had a
very similar upbringing to I’d had, I suppose.” (Students’
Union officer)
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Durham churches
S “They’re very kind of tight-knit communities. …if you become a
Christian they’ll make sure that you’ve got support…that you’re
kept in contact with so that if you’re struggling you’ve got that
support. It is, it’s very networked – so for instance I’m living with
two Iwerne [camp] girls this year and they’ll have prayer
meetings, they’ll have reunions… a Iwerne kind of staff
member will come up to Durham once a term, twice a term, to
check that everyone’s okay… that the kind of new students are
being kept up with, they’re being looked after. So it is very, very
intense” (Lia, Durham)
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Durham churches
S The charismatic revivalist church: “for the uber cool
Christians who I would say are probably middle to upper
class too. People who took gap years and […] so kind of
that’s uber cool, really, kind of really attractive people.”
(Lia)
S The ‘family churches’: “we tend to get… more kids from
comprehensives and middle middle-class, rather than the
more affluent students, which is an interesting thing.”
(Pastor)
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Ethnicity
Church attendance before
university
Ethnic minority
White
87.6%
65.5%
23.2%
12.5%
60.3%
77.2%
16.5%
10.4%
Religious change since
starting university:
More religious
About the same
Less religious (since
beginning university)
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Ethnic minority White
Involved in one or more
student-based &/or
church-based Christian
activity
40%
23%
‘The university chaplaincy
and/or one of the
university chaplains has
been central to my
experience while at
university’
16.3%
6.3%
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Racial segregation on campus?
S USA: Kim (2006); Park (2012): being Protestant or Jewish was
negatively related to interracial friendship on campus
S Radical Youth:
S ‘1. To provide support that reflects the multi cultural diversity within
University; 2. To offer spiritual and personal support to all students
individually; 3. To offer the opportunity for prayer, discussion
or/and celebration of Christian faith; and 4. To enable students to
support each other by offering meeting places and events’
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S “I think it’s probably because black students will come
from a Pentecostal background and the white students
will come from maybe Catholic and stuff like that. So I
think even the ways of life differ because they will say,
“Okay, we’re okay to –” they’ll go raving and maybe the
black students will say, “You can’t go raving.” It’s like
different altogether.” (Faith, Derby)
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S “I just thought this is supposed to be church, even though it’s
not called church and we’re suppose to be a big happy family.
And if I don’t feel welcome, that’s not really right but I kept
going, so I did try and persevere with it because I was just like
maybe that’s just me being a bit paranoid or something. I just
couldn’t fit in and I wasn’t the only one. And the fact that I was
basically the only black person there as well was really weird
so I was just like, this is even harder.” (Nia)
S “It’s so international and even if you’re racist, you’re going to
have to hide your racism. It’s so international that wherever you
walk, you can see people from different places. Some people
are quite open-minded. I don’t really feel any racism or
anything on campus. It’s alright actually.” (Lisha, Kent)
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S “When I come to England, I realised that faith matters are
personal issues. I later learnt because back at home it is not
uncommon for you meet a neighbour, you sit with someone,
say “Is it okay if I share with you about Jesus” and they
wouldn’t take it as an offence or something. But when I came
here, I went to [further education college] and I was trying to
inform [someone, but they were] like “It’s an offence to talk
about God and just kept saying “It’s a personal issue, please
keep it to yourself” and so eventually I came to learn that it’s
hard in academia here. So unless I find someone who
identifies, they might have an interest in Christianity, I don’t
bring it up.” (Abedi, Leeds).
S Religion can facilitate intercultural transitions, but not always
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Social capital
S ‘the resources individuals and collectives derive from their social
networks. Social capital is not an “object” but rather a set of
interactions and relationships based on trust and reciprocity that
have the potential to be transformative.’ (Weller 2010)
S ‘connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of
reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them’; ‘social contacts
affect the productivity of individuals and groups’ (Putnam 2000)
S ‘Bonding’ vs ‘bridging’ social capital
S ‘Bridging social capital can generate broader identities and reciprocity,
whereas bonding social capital bolsters our narrower selves’ (Putnam
2000)
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Have you done any voluntary work during the past 12 months in any of
the following areas?’, percentage answering ‘yes’ (weighted)
Political
activities
Charitable
activities
Religious &
churchrelated
activities
I have not
been
involved in
any
voluntary
work
6.3%
38.9%
32.3%
42.5%
No religion 8.2%
(N=1,475)
34.8%
1.2%
60.7%
Christians
(N=2,233
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Examples of volunteer work
S Religious volunteering:
S Brownies, Girl Guides, Scouts, Christian Union leader, church children’s
club/ Sunday School, Christian holiday club, stewarding at Christian
festivals, overseas Christian Aid project, homelessness project, giving out
non-alcoholic drinks outside Students Union/ night club, overseas mission
work.
S Gap years for Christian youth, community work, arts projects or holiday
companies
S Charitable volunteering:
S air cadets, drama work for domestic violence charity, university welfare rep,
Camp America, Guide Dogs, university open days, university Rag society,
charity collecting
S Political volunteering:
S environmental protests, tuition fee protests, boycotts, anti-sweatshop
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campaigns, fair trade.
Bridging social capital
S “I have worked in both Christian and LGBT and have existed in both
Christian and LGBT communities; …automatically within both
communities I am the odd one out. I am in a minority. The fact that I
dress in strange clothes is my own choice but it doesn’t help” (Alicia,
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Derby)
Conclusions
S Class & ethnicity shape the Christian student experience
S Student Christianity reinforces & challenges social inequalities
S Bonding & bridging social capital were evident
S But slightly more bonding capital evident
S ‘religious youth groups appear to be a microcosm of larger
insider-outsider group dynamics, and these dynamics influence
how religious youth groups function. That the groups in
question happen to be religious in nature does not exclude
them from these typical insider-outsider dynamics’ (Herzog &
Wedow 2012)
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