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Religious Diversity and Community Volunteerism Among Asian Americans
Author(s) -
ECKLUND ELAINE HOWARD,
PARK JERRY Z.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2007.00353.x
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , social capital , immigration , sociology , asian americans , general social survey , population , sociology of religion , survey data collection , religious diversity , gender studies , political science , social science , ethnic group , demography , law , anthropology , statistics , mathematics
We examine whether religious membership and participation foster community volunteerism among a religiously diverse group of Asian Americans. We use data from the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (SCCBS), the only data set that contains both a large, national sample of Asian Americans and detailed questions on religious and civic participation. Asian‐American Protestants, Catholics, and adherents of non‐Christian religions are involved in community volunteerism to varying degrees. Surprisingly, however, fewer Hindus and Buddhists volunteer when compared to the nonaffiliated. We use these results to propose theoretical concepts that take into account the impact of a religion's structure as well as the double‐minority status faced by nonwhite and non‐Christian Asian Americans on the likelihood of volunteering. Our findings indicate that accepted predictors of community volunteerism may operate differently among new nonwhite immigrants and their children than in the general U.S. population; this provides building blocks for future research on religion and civic participation among nonwhite and non‐Christian populations.