Contextualising the Religious Survey: Possibilities and Limitations
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Censuses and surveys represent a two-edged sword. They are both a technology of governance for national and former colonial administrations and a tool of
recognition for the minoritized. In this article, I discuss the history of censuses and
surveys in a Danish context, arguing that the regional and local history of registration is crucial for understanding how and why religious identity becomes visible and
important as a measure for the population. Applying the case of a national survey on
religiosity in relation to the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2020, I ask how
religion comes alive through the strategic use of artificial ideal types aimed at mapping
a religious mainstream. Surveys introduce a distance to messy religious reality, thereby
reducing complexity and richness. Yet this distance also allows the researcher to ask
new questions that go beyond the immediate religious experience.
recognition for the minoritized. In this article, I discuss the history of censuses and
surveys in a Danish context, arguing that the regional and local history of registration is crucial for understanding how and why religious identity becomes visible and
important as a measure for the population. Applying the case of a national survey on
religiosity in relation to the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2020, I ask how
religion comes alive through the strategic use of artificial ideal types aimed at mapping
a religious mainstream. Surveys introduce a distance to messy religious reality, thereby
reducing complexity and richness. Yet this distance also allows the researcher to ask
new questions that go beyond the immediate religious experience.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Journal | Religion and Society |
Volume | 13 |
Pages (from-to) | 151-163 |
Number of pages | 13 |
ISSN | 2150-9298 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
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