Moral communities: Religious and secular

Abstract

This article considers the extent to which community groups (social/service clubs, professional organizations, churches, etc.) constitute “moral communities” (relatively coherent social networks which create and support meaningful human relationships by fostering common attitudes, values, and practices). It investigates the relationship between belonging to such a group and feelings of “mass society” (alienation, moral fragmentation, disengagement, and segmentation), self-esteem, and meaning and purpose. Questionnaire data were collected from three samples: 135 general psychology students, a randomly selected group of 440 adults who were contacted at home, and 405 adults who were attending church in one of 12 congregations. The data indicate that for many individuals community groups constitute moral communities, that such groups differ in the intensity and frequency of moral community feelings, and that the religious congregation is more likely to inspire feelings of moral community than is any other community group. Feelings of moral community were significantly correlated with reduced feelings of mass society and increased feelings of self-esteem and of meaning and purpose in life. Feelings of mass society were associated with lower self- esteem and a reduced sense of meaning and purpose in life.

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