Religious Identification and Attitude toward Economic Involvement among Christians and Muslims in Russia

Psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics. 2019. Vol. 16. No. 2. P. 269–284.

Efremova M., Lepshokova Z.

This study presents the results of empirical research into the relationship between strength and positivity of religious identification and attitudes towards economic behavior in a group of Orthodox Christians and Sunni Muslims in Russia (N = 820). In order to measure strength and positivity of religious identification, we used two components based on the Social Identity Theory. Attitudes toward models of economic behavior were measured through economic attitudes based on a scenario approach. The results revealed that attitudes towards three models of economic behavior can be clustered into a single economic involvement factor. In addition, generalized economic involvement was confirmed by CFA in both religious groups. In our study we found that strength and positivity of religious identification are differently associated with attitudes toward economic involvement in the two groups. Thus, it was concluded that the strength of religious identification negatively related to attitudes reflecting economic involvement. Positivity of religious identification was found to have a positive association with economic involvement. However, the further MGSEM demonstrated that the relationship between positivity of religious identification and economic involvement had interfaith specifics: positivity of religious identification was positively related to the models of economic involvement only in the group of Christians, while in the group of Muslims this relationship was insignificant. The results are discussed in terms of features of religious identification in these two groups

Keywords: Russia, модели экономического поведения, мусульмане, экономические установки и представления, Christians and Muslims, Models of economic behavior, Религиозная идентичность, экономическая вовлеченность, religious identification, economic involvement, православные христиане, economic attitudes

Publication based on the results of: Socio-psychological consequences of changes on the post-Soviet space: cross-cultural and cross-regional analysis (2019)