Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-cnmwb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T14:59:15.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clinging to Guns and Religion? A Research Note Testing the Role of Protestantism in Shaping Gun Identity in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2020

Abigail Vegter  and
Kevin R. den Dulk
Abigail Vegter*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Kevin R. den Dulk
Affiliation:
Calvin University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Abigail Vegter, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA. E-mail: abigailvegter@ku.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How does social identity shape Protestant attitudes about guns in the United States? Numerous studies show that religion shapes attitudes about guns, but the role of Protestantism in forming those attitudes is undertheorized and undertested. We draw from the extensive literature on religion-as-identity and the burgeoning literature of gun-ownership-as-identity to test the theory about the role of Protestant religion in cultivating a gun identity. We argue that for many Protestants, gun ownership has taken on the characteristics of a distinctive social identity, but that there are clear differences between different types of Protestants—notably, evangelicals and mainliners—that render the expansive category of “Protestant” largely irrelevant as an explanatory variable. While that finding might seem straightforward to scholars of religion and politics, the broad categorical approach—that is, treating “Protestant” as explanatory—has proven surprisingly durable in studies of gun ownership and attitudes about gun control. The analysis uses a recent Pew survey with batteries of questions about gun identity, gun policy, and religion. While this research note does not fully test why this relationship between Protestantism and gun identity exists, we do show that the relationship not only exists but also affects gun policy attitudes.

Keywords

gun identitysocial identityreligion and gun policyevangelicalmainlineProtestant
Type
Note
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 809 - 824
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, Alan I., and Saunders, Kyle L.. 2008. “Is Polarization A Myth?” The Journal of Politics 70(2): 542–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Achen, Christopher, and Bartels, Larry M.. 2016. Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burge, Ryan P., and Lewis, Andrew R. 2018. “Measuring Evangelicals: Practical Considerations for Social Scientists.” Politics and Religion 11(4): 745–759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Celinska, Katarzyna. 2007. “Individualism and Collectivism in America: The Case of Gun Ownership and Attitudes Toward Gun Control.” Sociological Perspectives 50(2): 229–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Citrin, Jack, Reingold, Beth, and Green, Donald. 1990. “American Identity and the Politics of Ethnic Change.” Journal of Politics 52: 1124–1154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnston. 1984. “The Influence of Group Identifications on Political Perception and Evaluation.” The Journal of Politics 46(3): 760–785.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Daniel, Navarro-Rivera, Juhem, and Jones, Robert. 2013. “Americans Say Better Mental Health Screenings Are Best Way to Prevent Further Mass Shootings.” PRRI. https://www.prri.org/research/january-2013-tracking-poll/.Google Scholar
Cramer, Robert J., et al. 2017. “Political Identity, Type of Victim, and Hate Crime-Related Beliefs as Predictors of Views Concerning Hate Crime Penalty Enhancement Laws: Hate Crime Penalty Enhancement Support 1.” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 17(1): 262–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, John C., Guth, James L., Smidt, Corwin E., and Kellstedt, Lyman A., eds. 1996. Religion and the Culture Wars: Dispatches From the Front. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Greene, Steven. 1999. “Understanding Party Identification: A Social Identity Approach.” Political Psychology 20(2): 393–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haider-Markel, Donald P., and Joslyn, Mark R.. 2001. “Gun Policy, Opinion, Tragedy, and Blame Attribution: The Conditional Influence of Issue Frames.” The Journal of Politics 63(2): 520–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hertzke, Allen D, Olson, Laura R., Den Dulk, Kevin R., and Fowler, Robert Booth. 2018. Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture and Strategic Choices. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofstadter, Richard. 1970. “America as A Gun Culture.” American Heritage 21(6): 4–11.Google Scholar
Huddy, Leonie. 2001. “From Social to Political Identity: A Critical Examination of Social Identity Theory.” Political Psychology 22(1): 127–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurwitz, Jon, Peffley, Mark, and Mondak, Jeffery. 2015. “Linked Fate and Outgroup Perceptions: Blacks, Latinos, and the US Criminal Justice System.” Political Research Quarterly 68(3): 505–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyengar, Shanto, Yphtach Lelkes, Matthew Levendusky, Neil Malhotra, and Sean J. Westwood. 2019. “The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States.” Annual Review of Political Science 22:129–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyengar, Shanto, and Westwood, Sean J.. 2014. “Fear and Loathing Across Party Lines: New Evidence on Group Polarization.” American Journal of Political Science 59(3): 690–707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joslyn, Mark R., and Haider-Markel, Donald P.. 2017. “Gun Ownership and Self-Serving Attributions for Mass Shooting Tragedies.” Social Science Quarterly 98(2): 429–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joslyn, Mark R., Haider-Markel, Donald P., Baggs, Michael, and Bilbo, Andrew. 2017. “Emerging Political Identities? Gun Ownership and Voting in Presidential Elections*.” Social Science Quarterly 98(2): 382–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahan, Dan, and Donald, Braman 2003. “More Statistics, Less Persuasion: A Cultural Theory of Gun-Risk Perceptions.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 151(4):1291–1327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalin, Michael, and Sambanis, Nicholas. 2018. “How to Think About Social Identity.” Annual Review of Political Science 21(1): 239–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinder, Donald R., and Winter, Nicholas. 2001. “Exploring the Racial Divide: Blacks, Whites, and Opinion on National Policy.” American Journal of Political Science 45(2): 439–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lacombe, Matthew J. 2019. “The Political Weaponization of Gun Owners: The NRA's Cultivation, Dissemination, and Use of A Group Social Identity.” Journal of Politics 81(4): 1342–1356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leighley, Jan. 1996. “Group Membership and the Mobilization of Political Participation.” The Journal of Politics 58(2): 447–463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, Robert E., and Vogel, Ronald E.. 1992. “Handgun Ownership and the Religion Factor.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 22(23): 1871–1877.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, Llliana. 2018. Uncivil Agreement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/U/bo27527354.html (January 13, 2019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Patrick R., and Conover, Pamela Johnston. 2015. “Red and Blue States of Mind: Partisan Hostility and Voting in the United States.” Political Research Quarterly 68(2): 225–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monroe, Kristen Renwick, Hankin, James, and Van Vechten, Renee Bukovchik. 2000. “The Psychological Foundations of Identity Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science 3(1): 419–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, Mark. 2018. Poll: 58 percent say gun ownership increases safety. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/poll-58-percent-say-gun-ownership-increases-safety-n85923.Google Scholar
Pew. 2017. “Guns in America: Attitudes and Experiences of Americans Pew Research Center.” Pew Research Center. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/.Google Scholar
Pew, . 2018. Gun Policy Remains Divisive, But Several Proposals Still Draw Bipartisan Support. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/10/18/gun-policy-remains-divisive-but-several-proposals-still-draw-bipartisan-support/.Google Scholar
Schildkraut, Deborah J. 2005. “The Rise and Fall of Political Engagement among Latinos: The Role of Identity and Perceptions of Discrimination.” Political Behavior 27(3): 285–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmermund, Anke, Sellers, Robert, Mueller, Birgit, and Crosby, Faye. 2001. “Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action as A Function of Racial Identity Among African American College Students.” Political Psychology 22(4): 759–774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smidt, Corwin E. 2013. American Evangelicals Today. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Spitzer, Robert J. 2012. The Politics of Gun Control, 5th ed. Boulder, Colo.: Paradigm Publishers.Google Scholar
Steensland, Brian, Park, Jerry Z., Regnerus, Mark D., Robinson, Lynn D., Bradford Wilcox, W., and Woodberry, Robert D.. 2000. “The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art.” Social Forces 79(1): 291–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroebe, Wolfgang, Pontus Leander, N., and Kruglanski, Arie W.. 2017. “Is It A Dangerous World Out There? The Motivational Bases of American Gun Ownership.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 43(8): 1071–1085.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tajfel, Henri, and Turner, John. 1979. “An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict.” In The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, eds. Austin, W.G. and Worchel, S.. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, pp. 33–47.Google Scholar
Wielhouwer, Peter W. 2009. “Religion and American Political Participation.” In The Oxford Handbook on Religion and American Politics, eds. Kellstedt, Lyman A. and Smidt, Corwin E.. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 394–426.Google Scholar
Wright, James D. 1995. “Ten Essential Observations on Guns in America.” Society 32(3): 63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, James D., and Marston, Linda L.. 1975. “The Ownership of the Means of Destruction: Weapons in the United States.” Social Problems 23(1): 93–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamane, David. 2016. “Awash in A Sea of Faith and Firearms: Rediscovering the Connection Between Religion and Gun Ownership in America.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 55(3): 622–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, Robert L. 1989. “The Protestant Heritage and the Spirit of Gun Ownership.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 28(3): 300–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Jinguang, and Reid, Scott A.. 2013. “A Self-Categorization Explanation for Opinion Consensus Perceptions: Opinion Consensus Perceptions.” Human Communication Research 39(3): 269–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar