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Browsing by Author "Ecklund, Elaine Howard"

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A Nationally Representative Survey of Faith and Work: Demographic Subgroup Differences around Calling and Conflict
(MDPI, 2020) Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Daniels, Denise; Bolger, Daniel; Johnson, Laura
Research has increasingly highlighted the importance of business leaders allowing people to bring their whole selves to work. And religion is an important part of the whole self for many. However, we lack the large-scale national data needed to explore how Americans see the connections between religion and work. Here, from “Faith at Work: An Empirical Study”—a novel, nationally representative dataset—we explore the extent to which working Americans (N = 8767) see their work as a spiritual calling and/or experience work conflict because of their religious faith. We find that one fifth of workers identify their work as a spiritual calling. Our findings also suggest that experiences of religious conflict and discrimination are shaped not only by religious beliefs, but also social location. The initial results highlight future avenues for research and demonstrate the potential of the “Faith at Work” data to shed further light on how religion enters the workplace.
Can Religiosity Be Explained by ‘Brain Wiring’? An Analysis of US Adults’ Opinions
(MDPI, 2019) Mehta, Sharan Kaur; Scheitle, Christopher P.; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
Studies examining how religion shapes individuals’ attitudes about science have focused heavily on a narrow range of topics, such as evolution. This study expands this literature by looking at how religion influences individuals’ attitudes towards the claim that neuroscience, or “brain wiring,” can explain differences in religiosity. Our analysis of nationally representative survey data shows, perhaps unsurprisingly, that religiosity is negatively associated with thinking that brain wiring can explain religion. Net of religiosity, though, individuals reporting religious experiences are actually more likely to agree that brain wiring can explain religiosity, as are individuals belonging to diverse religious traditions when compared to the unaffiliated. We also find that belief in the general explanatory power of science is a significant predictor of thinking that religiosity can be explained by brain wiring, while women and the more highly educated are less likely to think this is true. Taken together, these findings have implications for our understanding of the relationship between religion and science, and the extent to which neuroscientific explanations of religiosity are embraced by the general US public.
Construction and Tensions Resolution: A Comparative Study of Religious Conversion to Protestantism among Chinese and Indian Immigrants in the United States
(2014-08-29) Di, Di; Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Chávez, Sergio; Emerson, Michael; Lewis, Steven
Despite the recent scholarly focus on immigration and religion, little is known about the shift of immigrants’ religious beliefs. Among the small set of studies that analyze immigrants’ religious conversion experience, most adopt a functional approach to understand the religious conversion process of Chinese immigrants. However, few scholars have analyzed the religious conversion process of Indian immigrants in the United States, let alone compared it with that of Chinese immigrants. Focusing on Chinese and Indian immigrants, this study adopts a comparative perspective to understand the relative influence from immigrants’ countries of origin and their immigrant status on the religious conversion process. Relying on twenty-nine semi-structured interviews, descriptively, this project examines Chinese and Indian immigrants’ interpretations of their religious conversion experience as well as their strategies for constructing identities. Using a cultural approach, sociologically, this paper analyzes how Chinese and Indian immigrant religious converts form new cultural norms during the conversion process. The findings reveal that Chinese and Indian immigrants have different approaches to interpret religious conversion process and construct religious identities. However, they utilize similar strategies to negotiate between their religious and ethnic identities. Drawing on these results, this article includes another ethnic group into the scholarly discussion to provide a more robust theory regarding immigrants’ religious conversion. This paper also has implications for the meaning of being an immigrant Christian in the United States.
Cross-National Variations in Scientific Ethics: Exploring Ethical Perspectives Among Scientists in China, the US, and the UK
(Springer Nature, 2024) Di, Di; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
This research explores the perspectives of academic physicists from three national contexts concerning their roles and responsibilities within the realm of science. Using a dataset comprised of 211 interviews with scientists working in China, the United States, and the United Kingdom, the study seeks to explain whether and in what manner physicists conceptualize scientific ethics within a global or national framework. The empirical findings bring to light disparities across nations in the physicists’ perceptions of what constitutes responsible mentorship and engagement in public service. These cross-national variations underscore the moral agency of physicists as they navigate the ethical standards embraced by the global scientific community vis-à-vis those that are specific to their respective national contexts. The study’s empirical insights may carry significant implications for both policymakers and ethicists, underscoring the imperative of soliciting and acknowledging the perspectives of academic scientists working and living in disparate national contexts when formulating comprehensive science ethics frameworks. Such inclusive and context-aware approaches to shaping ethics in science can contribute to the cultivation of a more robust and universally relevant ethical foundation for the scientific community.
Defining Sikhism: Boundaries of Religion and Ethnicity Among Sikhs in the US
(2016-04-22) Khalsa, Simranjit; Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Chavez, Sergio
U.S. immigration has brought rising numbers of non-western religious practitioners whose religious and ethnic identities are linked, and there has been a concurrent rise in white Americans converting to these faiths. Research on religious-ethnic traditions has not addressed how communities of white converts impact religious-ethnic traditions. I study this phenomena among US Sikhs, comparing members of two Sikh communities. I ask how they construct their Sikh identity and what boundaries they draw around this identity. I draw on participant observation and 31 in-depth interviews with both Indian Sikhs in Houston and members of Sikh Dharma, a predominantly white Sikh community. I find that respondents in each community draw on the same elements (symbols, practices, values) to construct Sikh identity, however, they diverge in regards to the specific practices they emphasize. Differences in religious practice become boundaries between respondents, separating Indian Sikhs and members of Sikh Dharma along both religious and ethnic lines. Furthermore, members of Sikh Dharma redefine both Sikh practice and the boundaries around Sikhism, despite the dissent of Indian Sikhs. Thus, my findings suggest that white practitioners of non-white religious-ethnic traditions have outsized agency in defining Sikhism for themselves and the broader American public.
Determinants of Confidence in U.S. Institutions: Comparing Congress and Corporations
(Wiley, 2021) Bolger, Daniel; Thomson, Robert Jr.; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
Objectives: The political discourse surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election highlighted discontent with both Congress and corporations, a reality corroborated in recent scholarship highlighting declines in institutional confidence among U.S. citizens. Here we test theories of institutional confidence to understand the social and cultural determinants of confidence in Congress and corporations prior to the start of the 2016 presidential campaigns. Methods: We draw on data from the Religious Understandings of Science Survey, a nationally representative survey conducted in 2013–2014 (N = 9,416). Results: We find that political ideology largely explained confidence in corporations while social location (particularly racial‐ethnic identity and gender) strongly related to confidence in Congress. Seemingly opposing factors converged to predict trust in both institutions. Conclusions: Institutional confidence is shaped not only by social and cultural factors but also by the symbolic functions of institutions themselves.
Evangelicals, evolution, and inerrancy: a comparative study of congregational boundary work
(Taylor & Francis, 2021) Unsworth, Amy; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
A number of evangelical Christian denominations and networks uphold a specific doctrine of Scripture, stating that the Bible is the ‘inerrant’ word of God. Those who adhere to biblical inerrancy tend to reject literary interpretations of the creation accounts in the Bible and therefore to reject evolutionary theory. Indeed, evolution rejection frequently functions as a key boundary for biblical inerrantists that must be strictly maintained. In this comparative study, we analyse interview data and other materials to uncover the mechanisms by which evolution rejection as a boundary is strengthened, maintained or weakened within two evangelical church congregations that adhere to biblical inerrancy: one in London, UK, the other in Texas, US. We find significant differences in boundary work between the two congregations and consider how the interplay of three factors—1) orientation of the congregation (internal or external), 2) religious context (minority or majority), 3) boundary salience—may lead to boundary strengthening or weakening.
Examining Links Between Religion, Evolution Views, and Climate Change Skepticism
(Sage, 2016) Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Scheitle, Christopher P.; Peifer, Jared; Bolger, Daniel
Recent media portrayals link climate change skepticism to evolution skepticism, often as part of a larger “antiscience” tendency related to membership in conservative religious groups. Using national survey data, we examine the link between evolution skepticism and climate change skepticism, and consider religion’s association with both. Our analysis shows a modest association between the two forms of skepticism along with some shared predictors, such as political conservatism, a lack of confidence in science, and lower levels of education. Evangelical Protestants also show more skepticism toward both evolution and climate change compared with the religiously unaffiliated. On the whole, however, religion has a much stronger and clearer association with evolution skepticism than with climate change skepticism. Results contribute to scholarly discussions on how different science issues may or may not interact, the role of religion in shaping perceptions of science, and how science policy makers might better channel their efforts to address environmental care and climate change in particular.
Examining the Effects of Exposure to Religion in the Workplace on Perceptions of Religious Discrimination
(Springer, 2016) Scheitle, Christopher P.; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
Charges of religion-related employment discrimination have doubled in the past decade. Multiple factors are likely contributing to this trend, such as the increased religious diversity of the US population and the increased interest of employees and some employers in bringing religion to work. Using national survey data we examine how the presence of religion in the workplace affects an individualﾒs perception of religious discrimination and how this effect varies by the religious tradition of the individual. We find that the more an individual reports that religion comes up at work, the more likely it is that the individual will perceive religious discrimination. This effect remains even after taking into account the individualﾒs own religious tradition, religiosity, and frequency of talking to others about religion. This effect is stronger, however, for Catholics, Mainline Protestants, and for the religiously unaffiliated. In workplaces where religion is said to never come up these groups are among the least likely to perceive religious discrimination. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Evangelical Protestants are more likely to perceive religious discrimination in the workplace even if they say that religion never comes up at work, which makes the effect of exposure to religion in the workplace weaker for these groups. These results show that keeping religion out of the workplace will largely eliminate perceptions of religious discrimination for some groups, but for other groups the perceptions will remain.
From Secular to Sacred: Bringing Work to Church
(MDPI, 2020) Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Daniels, Denise; Schneider, Rachel C.
Work and faith are significant life commitments for many people. Understanding how people integrate these facets of life is important for scholars, faith leaders, and religious communities. We use data from Faith at Work: An Empirical Study, which includes a U.S. general population survey (n = 13,270) and in-depth interviews. Drawing data from a Christian sub-sample we ask: How do Christians draw on their faith community in relation to work? For those in different social locations, in what ways does talk about work come up in churches? Finally, what work-related challenges do Christians experience, and how do Christians want their churches and pastors to address them? We find that many Christians see faith as a resource for enhancing their work lives but do not often encounter discussion of work at church or talk with pastors about work, though Black congregants are nearly twice as likely as whites to hear their pastors discuss work. Further, specific groups of Christians want their pastors and churches to do more to support them in their work and/or to help them navigate faith in the workplace. They also want churches to better accommodate the needs of working people at church, so they can more fully participate.
Getting Enlightened: A Comparative Study of Buddhist Temples in Mainland China and the US
(2019-05-23) Di, Di; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
This dissertation examines the intersection of religion, ethnicity, and gender in two Chinese Mahayana Buddhist temples that are affiliated with the same international Buddhist headquarters, but situated in two distinctive national contexts: mainland China and the US. In particular, I examine the contextualization of global Buddhism. Three research questions guided this study: (1) What are people’s religious experiences in the two Buddhist temples? (2) In what way are religion, gender, and ethnicity constructed in these two faith communities? (3) In what way, and to what extent, is a globalized religion contextualized? The theoretical framework that guided this study is a discussion of the relation between people’s agency and social institutions, which illustrates the way individuals are constrained and enabled by authoritative discourses, also referred to as institutional norms, in the social institutions in which they are situated. This study relied on a 15-month ethnographic study in two Buddhist temples and 80 in-depth interviews (conducted in both Mandarin and English) with ethnic Chinese Buddhist practitioners within the temples. The findings related to the first research question revealed that, although Buddhists in the two temples practice the same type of Buddhism and follow a similar set of authoritative Buddhist discourses, they construct two different types of religious identities actively according to the founding master’s words. Buddhists in the temple in China construct temple-specific Buddhist identities, while their counterparts in the temple in the US construct individual-centered Buddhist identities. The findings that addressed the second research question illustrated that, while monastic leaders in the temples may express gender and ethnicity in somewhat similar ways, their construction differs in the two temples. Based on the findings related to the first two research questions, to address the third research question, I argue that religious people’s agency is the locus to understand the contextualization of global Buddhism. However, in contrast to previous scholars who have focused predominantly on the dialectical relations between individuals—Buddhist practitioners in one case and the social institution of religion in another case, I argue that, when developing their agency, monastic members and religious practitioners evaluate their positions constantly in the broader national context and navigate the religious norms with the cultural resources that are accessible to the broader and even secular national contexts. This navigation process helps practitioners construct a collective form of agency in the Chinese and an individual form in the US temple. Taken together, this dissertation reveals the localization of a seemingly globalized social institution, proposes a novel and contextualized understanding of people’s agency, and offers implications for the sociology of religion, gender, and ethnicity.
Gossip as Social Control: Informal Sanctions on Ethical Violations in Scientific Workplaces
(Oxford University Press, 2016) Vaidyanathan, Brandon; Khalsa, Simranjit; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
Research on misconduct in science has largely focused on egregious violations such as fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. Recent scholarship, however, calls for greater attention to forms of everyday misconduct and how scientists navigate ethical ambiguity when they are unable or unwilling to make formal accusations. Drawing on interview data from 251 physicists and biologists from both elite and non-elite universities and research institutes in the United States, United Kingdom, and India, we find that scientists are often reticent or unable to take formal action against many behaviors they perceive as unethical and irresponsible. As a result, they resort to informal gossip to warn colleagues of transgressors. Many express confidence that such pro-social gossip can serve as a means of social control by tarnishing the reputations of transgressors. Yet its effectiveness as a form of social control is limited, particularly when transgressors enjoy higher status than gossipers. We identify two types and three consequences of such gossip and assess the effectiveness of gossip as a means of social control. Finally, we consider the implications of our study for understanding and decreasing misconduct in science.
Heaven and Health: How Black, Latino, and Korean Christians View the Relationship Between Faith and Health
(Springer, 2018) Bolger, Daniel; Tinsley, Cleve IV; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
Religious congregations have increasingly been viewed as potential access points to health care in underserved communities. Such a perspective stems from a robust literature identifying the unique civic role that churches potentially play in African American and Latino communities. Yet, research on congregational health promotion has often not considered how congregants view the connections between religious faith, physical health, and the church community. In order to further interrogate how congregants view the church’s role in health promotion, we compare views on the relationship between faith and health for two groups that are overrepresented in American Christianity and underrepresented in medical careers (African Americans and Latinos) with a group that is similarly religious but comparatively well-represented in medical professions (Korean Americans). Drawing on data from focus groups with 19 pastors representing 18 different congregations and 28 interviews with church members, we find that churches across all three groups promote initiatives to care for the physical health of their members. Nonetheless, notable differences exist in how each group frames the interface between religious faith and physical health. African Americans and Latinos highlighted the role of faith in providing physical healing while Korean Americans saw the support of the religious community as the main benefit of their faith. Distrust of medicine was primarily articulated by members of African American churches. The results offer important implications for the future potential and nature of health initiatives in racial minority communities.
How Academic Biologists and Physicists View Science Outreach
(Public Library of Science, 2012) Ecklund, Elaine Howard; James, Sarah A.; Lincoln, Anne E.
Scholars and pundits alike argue that U.S. scientists could do more to reach out to the general public. Yet, to date, there have been few systematic studies that examine how scientists understand the barriers that impede such outreach. Through analysis of 97 semi-structured interviews with academic biologists and physicists at top research universities in the United States, we classify the type and target audiences of scientists' outreach activities. Finally, we explore the narratives academic scientists have about outreach and its reception in the academy, in particular what they perceive as impediments to these activities. We find that scientistsﾒ outreach activities are stratified by gender and that university and disciplinary rewards as well as scientistsﾒ perceptions of their own skills have an impact on science outreach. Research contributions and recommendations for university policy follow.
Individual Religiosity and Orientation towards Science: Reformulating Relationships
(Sociological Science, 2015) Johnson, David R.; Scheitle, Christopher P.; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
The religion-science relationship has been the focus of a growing body of research. Such analyses have often suffered from poorly specified concepts related to religion and to science. At the individual level, scholars often assume that an individual's religiosity will affect her orientation towards science. But an orientation towards science consists of several sub-concepts, each of which may have a unique relationship, or lack thereof, with religiosity. We use observed measures from the 2008 General Social Survey to build latent variables representing science orientation sub-concepts and assess their relationships using structural equation modeling. We find that religiosity has no significant association with interest in or knowledge of science. Religiosity does, however, have a significant negative association with confidence in science. This suggests that the lack of faith in science held by religious individuals is not a product of interest or ignorance, but is instead based on theological or institutional reservations.
Individuals’ Experiences with Religious Hostility, Discrimination, and Violence: Findings from a New National Survey
(Sage, 2020) Scheitle, Christopher P.; Ecklund, Elaine Howard
While concerns about the consequences of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of religious bias have grown in the past several years, the data available to examine these issues have been limited. This study utilizes new data from a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults featuring oversamples of key religious minority groups and an instrument dedicated to measuring the extent to which individuals experience hostility, discrimination, and violence due to their religion. Findings show that, while a sizable minority of Christian adults report such experiences, a much greater share of Muslim and Jewish adults report experiences with interpersonal hostility, organizational discrimination, and violent victimization due to their religion. Analyses show that these patterns are largely unchanged after accounting for individuals’ race and ethnicity, national origin, and other characteristics, suggesting that experiences with religious hostility are not epiphenomenal to other social locations.
International Stem Cell Collaboration: How Disparate Policies between the United States and the United Kingdom Impact Research
(2011) Luo, Jingyuan; Flynn, Jesse M.; Solnick, Rachel E.; Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Matthews, Kirstin R.W.; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
As the scientific community globalizes, it is increasingly important to understand the effects of international collaboration on the quality and quantity of research produced. While it is generally assumed that international collaboration enhances the quality of research, this phenomenon is not well examined. Stem cell research is unique in that it is both politically charged and a research area that often generates international collaborations, making it an ideal case through which to examine international collaborations. Furthermore, with promising medical applications, the research area is dynamic and responsive to a globalizing science environment. Thus, studying international collaborations in stem cell research elucidates the role of existing international networks in promoting quality research, as well as the effects that disparate national policies might have on research. This study examined the impact of collaboration on publication significance in the United States and the United Kingdom, world leaders in stem cell research with disparate policies. We reviewed publications by US and UK authors from 2008, along with their citation rates and the political factors that may have contributed to the number of international collaborations. The data demonstrated that international collaborations significantly increased an article's impact for UK and US investigators. While this applied to UK authors whether they were corresponding or secondary, this effect was most significant for US authors who were corresponding authors. While the UK exhibited a higher proportion of international publications than the US, this difference was consistent with overall trends in international scientific collaboration. The findings suggested that national stem cell policy differences and regulatory mechanisms driving international stem cell research in the US and UK did not affect the frequency of international collaborations, or even the countries with which the US and UK most often collaborated. Geographical and traditional collaborative relationships were the predominate considerations in establishing international collaborations.
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Latinos, Faith and Education: Examining Religion’s Role in Shaping Latino College and STEM Outcomes
(2023-04-19) Salazar, Esmeralda Sánchez; Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Turley, Ruth N
Although increased religious participation is generally associated with better educational outcomes, affiliation with conservative Protestant and Pentecostal groups is sometimes associated with lower educational attainment and STEM participation. However, few studies have explored whether these relationships persist among Latinos. This gap is important because Latinos are one of the nation’s fastest growing groups, and they have high levels of religious adherence and low levels of educational attainment compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Moreover, Latinos are increasingly shifting towards conservative Protestant and Pentecostal traditions. This dissertation project uses quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the following questions: (1) What are the behaviors and attitudes toward higher education and science among Latinos in different religious traditions? 2) What is the relationship between Latino youth’s religious affiliation and their college and STEM pathways, and how does this relationship differ across different Christian traditions (e.g., Pentecostal, evangelical, and Catholic)? 3) How do Latino faith leaders influence the college-going behaviors and STEM achievement of Latino youth? This dissertation uses administrative data from a large, majority Latino, urban school district to examine the association between religious affiliation and Latino students’ advanced course-taking patterns, including advanced STEM courses, and college enrollment. Using three case studies of Latino congregations in Houston (Pentecostal, evangelical and Catholic—the three most dominant traditions among Latinos), this dissertation further explores whether and how contextual religious dynamics (e.g., clergy messages) shape the narratives and college enrollment behavior of Latino youth. Findings from the dissertation span across three empirical chapters. In Chapter 2, I explore how religious participation in Latino congregations enables or constrains Latino college choices. I find that Latino young adults consider “church as family” and make decisions about whether and where to attend college based on a college’s proximity to their church ties. In Chapter 3, I examine to what extent Latino students’ religious affiliation predicts their college-level course-taking and enrollment patterns. Results indicate that Latino Pentecostals and evangelicals take fewer college-level courses compared to Latino students with no religious affiliation. Results also indicate that compared to Latino students with no religious affiliation, Latino Pentecostal, evangelical and Catholic students have significantly higher odds of immediately enrolling in any college, and Latino evangelicals and Catholics have significantly higher odds of immediately enrolling in four-year colleges. Chapter 4 uses a multiple methods approach 1) to examine the relationship between Latino religious affiliation and STEM college-level course-taking patterns and 2) to explore the specific mechanisms (e.g., clergy messages) operating within Latino congregations that shape Latino STEM achievement. Findings from this chapter reveal that compared to Latino students with no religious affiliation, Latino Pentecostal, evangelical and Catholic students take fewer STEM college-level courses. Semi-structured interviews indicate that low STEM participation across these religious traditions may be tied to low congregational engagement with science and other perceived barriers. Ultimately, this dissertation explores an under-examined dimension in the education literature that could enable or constrain higher education attainment and STEM achievement among Latino youth.
Male Scientists' Competing Devotions to Work and Family: Changing Norms in a Male-Dominated Profession
(Sage, 2014) Damaske, Sarah; Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Lincoln, Anne E.; White, Virginia Johnston
Using in-depth interviews with 74 men across different ranks in biology and physics at prestigious U.S. universities, the authors ask to what extent changing norms of fatherhood and a flexible workplace affect men working in a highly male-dominated profession and what variation exists in family forms. The authors conceptualize four typologies of men: those forgoing children, egalitarian partners, neotraditional dual earners, and traditional breadwinners. Findings suggest male scientists hold strong work devotions, yet a growing number seek egalitarian relationships, which they frame as reducing their devotion to work. The majority of men find the all-consuming nature of academic science conflicts with changing fatherhood norms.
Moral Schemas in Articulation and Intuition: How Religious People Evaluate Human Reproductive Genetic Technologies
(Wiley, 2017) Ecklund, Elaine Howard; Peifer, Jared L.; White, Virginia; Chan, Esther
As new and more effective human reproductive genetic technologies (RGTs) rapidly develop, religious voices remain an important part of public discussion about the moral standing of such technologies. Here, we compare how individuals from different religious traditions evaluate disease RGTs (detecting genetic diseases inﾠvitro) when compared to enhancement RGTs, allowing parents to select features of a child. Findings are gleaned from analysis of 270 interviews with individuals from 23 Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious organizations, with supporting data from a national survey of more than 10,000 Americans. We find that respondents engage in clearly defined discursive moral reasoning to evaluate the propriety of disease RGTs while moral intuitions manifest themselves in responses to enhancement RGTs. We argue that schemas provide resources for moral discourses while also shaping moral intuitions expressed through emotions. Our results have implications for how religious people respond to new technologies when their institutional and denominational structures do not have readily discernable moral frameworks to guide responses.

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