Religion as Culture: Religious Individualism and Collectivism Among American Catholics, Jews, and Protestants

TLDR

We propose that religious cultures differ in their individualistic versus collectivistic aspects of religiousness and spirituality. The study found that Jewish religious experience is community‑centric and rooted in descent, Protestant experience is personal‑belief‑centric, and Catholic experience lies between, with intrinsic religiosity linked to personal faith and extrinsic religiosity to community and ritual, and life experiences reflecting these patterns.

Abstract

ABSTRACT We propose the theory that religious cultures vary in individualistic and collectivistic aspects of religiousness and spirituality. Study 1 showed that religion for Jews is about community and biological descent but about personal beliefs for Protestants. Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity were intercorrelated and endorsed differently by Jews, Catholics, and Protestants in a pattern that supports the theory that intrinsic religiosity relates to personal religion, whereas extrinsic religiosity stresses community and ritual (Studies 2 and 3). Important life experiences were likely to be social for Jews but focused on God for Protestants, with Catholics in between (Study 4). We conclude with three perspectives in understanding the complex relationships between religion and culture.