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Racial Limitations on the Gender, Risk, Religion, and Politics Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2021

Amanda Friesen Open the ORCID record for Amanda Friesen [Opens in a new window]  and
Mirya R. Holman Open the ORCID record for Mirya R. Holman [Opens in a new window]
Amanda Friesen*
Affiliation:
Political Science, Western University, London, Canada
Mirya R. Holman
Affiliation:
Political Science, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
*
Corresponding author: Amanda Friesen, E-mail: afries4@uwo.ca
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Abstract

Risk aversion dampens political participation and heightens religiosity, with concentrated effects among women. Yet, little is known about how intersecting identities moderate these psychological correlates of religiosity and political engagement. In this paper, we theorize that the risk-religion-politics relationship is gendered and racialized. Using a nationally representative survey, we show that political participation is more strongly correlated with risk for Black women than for any other race-gender group. For religiosity, however, we find little evidence that risk is related to religiosity among Black women, while highly correlated with white women's religious engagement. For men—whether Black or white—risk exhibits a modest, positive relationship with their religiosity. Our results speak to the importance of considering intersectionality and race-gender identities in evaluations of religious and political activities in the United States.

Type
Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 270 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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Footnotes

Thanks to Kevin den Dulk, Erin Cassese, Paul Djupe, Christopher Federico, Joseph Tucker Edmonds, and Yanna Krupnikov's class for their thoughts on the project. Previous versions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of International Society for Political Psychology (2018) and the Southern Political Science Association (2019).

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