Religion and cultural capital in the UK today: identity, cultural engagement and the prevalence of multiple religious identities

ABSTRACT

Scholarship on social class occupies a particular pedestal in British sociology. However, recent research into the connections between religion and social position is conspicuously absent. Using a UK-wide survey, I employ Bourdieu and various statistical methods to investigate the complex cultural capital compositions of various religious identities. The findings identify a four-group typology of cultural engagement. I also identify those holding multiple religious identities as a new and prominent religious identity in the UK today, one that is highly culturally active. I explain these results through neo-Bourdieusian theories of the reconfiguration of distinction in the forms of openness and cosmopolitanism, and through arguments for the importance of cultural and social variety in accumulating capital. The unique group that has these multiple religious identities is also a prime candidate for further research into how religious dispositions may operate as its own form of cultural capital.

EDITED BY:

• Patrick Präg

KEYWORDS:

• Bourdieu
• cultural capital
• identity
• religion
• social class

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study has embargoed availability in Zenodo at DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6665736. Data analysis replication information has open availability in Open Science Framework at DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/ARN79.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6665736

2 DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/ARN79

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adam Gemar

Adam Gemar is a Lecturer in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus. Adam's research revolves around sociological understandings of culture, religion, sport, education, and their intersections with social inequalities.