Configurations of individual and collective religious identities and their potential for civil society. Representative results for Germany and Switzerland in comparison

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gert Pickel
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 384887304

The project deals with the question, which configurations of social identities are present in modern societies and which effects on societal integration and social conflict these identities have in Germany and Switzerland. The aim of our two interlinked German-Switzerland-proposals (see the twinned project Migrantengemeinden, religiöse Identitäten und zivilgesellschaftliche Einbindung) is to analyse current configurations of religious social identities with a focus on their sources, content and societal effects in Germany and Switzerland. The quantitative project configurations of individual and collective religious identities and their potential for the civil society. Representative results from Germany and Switzerland in comparison aims to identify self and external descriptions of social and especially religious social identities in a comprehensive manner and to investigate their sources as well as consequences in civil society and politics. For this aims we develop a complex questionnaire and a complex design of sampling. Starting from a substantial notion of religion, the focus is on intermediate religious groups in civil society and the social identities formed by them. We assume, that the practice of religious identities shows strong similarities between Germany and Switzerland, that the separation of social groups based on religious identities can be explained by types of different configurations of social religious identities, that these types are related to certain civil and political attitudes and behavior and thus and that they should have important consequences for social life and politics in both countries.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Partner Organisation: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Antonius Liedhegener