How does Religion Influence Social Progress?

Nancy Ammerman, professor of the sociology of religion and associate dean of the faculty for the social sciences, is part of a global project called the International Panel on Social Progress (IPSP), whose mission is to “harness the competence of hundreds of experts about social issues” to provide social actors, organizations, politicians, and decision-makers with the best expertise on questions that bear on social change. In an interview with CAS News, Nancy tells us about IPSP, its goals, and her role in the initiative.

Can you tell us about the International Panel on Social Progress and how/why you got involved with the project?

The organizers of the International Panel on Social Progress were very influenced by the International Panel on Climate Change and the way a large community of scholars could be brought together to address a pressing problem. This project has made the optimistic claim that social science has tools and knowledge that can help build a better world and more just societies. We recognize how complex our answers are likely to be, with “progress” meaning very different things across cultures and in places with different kinds of economies and histories. Nevertheless, we think that it is possible to use our understanding of social relations and structures to describe conditions under which people and communities can thrive.

I was impressed by that goal and by the people who had conceived the project, people like Amartya Sen, for instance. And they had already recruited a scholar I like and respect very much—Grace Davie, of the University of Exeter—to head up the effort to write about the role of religion in the pursuit of social progress. So both the idea and the people appealed to me. 

What is your role, specifically?

Grace and I are Coordinating Lead Authors, which means that we have recruited a team of people to work with us to collectively write a chapter on religions and social progress. We are delighted to be working with scholars who are from and know about a wide range of religious traditions from Bangladesh to Venezuela, to the European continent, to the very dynamic religious worlds of the African continent, and beyond. It’s quite a challenging and talented group.

What is your goal for this project?

Beyond the larger project goal, I am especially happy to be able to contribute a measured assessment of the ways in which religions can be both an impediment to social progress and a facilitator of it. If I have one goal, it is to get religion onto the radar screen of people who are working for social progress. With 80-90% of the world’s population having some allegiance to a religious tradition, it isn’t a part of society that can be ignored.

Can you give us a summary of the chapter you lead, “Religions, Worldviews, and Society” for this project? What is it about? What is its importance?

We will be covering a wide range of topics, including religion’s roles in family life and sexuality, social welfare and economic development, peace-building and religious violence, the role of religion in democracy and state-building, religion and the environment, and the many ways in which religious diversity is being managed—well and not so well—in different parts of the world.

How does your research and scholarly work relate to this panel (and more specifically the chapter you lead)?

The specific work I’ve done will be contributing in several ways. I’ve worked on understanding the role of religious organizations in the delivery of social services, and that will come into the section on social welfare. I’ve also been among the strong voices advocating a broader definition of religion, one that includes everyday practices like how we dress and eat, the material world we construct in household shrines or sacred monuments, and the connections we make with people who share our beliefs and values, even if none of these things happens in an official religious place under an official religious authority. That broader definition will also help to shape how this chapter is written.

You mentioned in an interview with IPSP that you mostly studied religion in the US. What have you discovered about religion in international societies that stands out to you? How is it similar? Different?

There is so much! Just two examples will suffice, perhaps. People in European countries tend to think of themselves as very secular, but they are surrounded by a landscape and a calendar and a sense of belonging that is very Christian, with much less religious diversity than we are used to in the U.S. And in China—another place that is supposed to be officially secular—there is a thriving world of folk religion, with shrines and rituals for every important occasion. There is also a very “religious” veneration of Mao and an expanding, only slightly underground, Christian population. They have to dodge government regulations in ways that are foreign to Americans. Both these cases are ones we’ll be exploring in our chapter, as we look at the consequences of different forms of diversity and strategies of regulation.

What made you pursue a career studying the sociology of religion?

I grew up in the household of a pastor, so I’ve been observing religion all my life! Once I was introduced to the interpretive lenses and methodological tools of sociology, I couldn’t keep from looking over my shoulder at a world I already knew. I also recognized that many of my sociological colleagues didn’t have the kind of access to that world that I could have, so I’ve always thought of this as both a gift I give my discipline and the public and a gift my discipline gives to communities I care about.