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Research

Research

Research

Summary

Whether it be Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, starvation in the Sudan, or political cartoons in Danish newspapers, one need only turn to the evening news to recognize that religion may play a significant role in the creation and maintenance of intergroup conflict and that such conflicts often have implications that extend well beyond their immediate realm. Unfortunately, there exists little in the way of deep, data-based knowledge of the manner in which religion influences conflict processes. Such knowledge is critical for analyzing conflict situations, for being able to anticipate the emergence of conflict situations, and for creating policies to defuse potential conflicts or better manage existing conflicts. Building upon insights from a wide range of disciplines (e.g., social psychology, political science, religious studies, anthropology, sociology) and existing findings about the processes that contribute to group conflict (e.g., perceived competition over scarce resources, incompatible values), this project tests hypotheses about where, how, under what circumstances, and for whom religion-influenced conflict could emerge. Employing an innovative Internet-based survey methodology, a large, international network of social and behavioral scientists will be recruited to provide data about 100 locales around the world. This method provides the ability to explore many locales, gather quantitative data about many relevant factors, reduce the potential impact of biases in expert informant?s reports, and conduct modern statistical analyses, thereby enabling the investigators to discover whether there are fundamental, cross-cultural principles through which religion may enhance or decrease conflict. Contemporary computer simulation modeling techniques will be used to explore the implications of the findings. In sum, religion-influenced conflict has direct implications for the lives of individuals and groups across the globe, for the management of international affairs, and for the maintenance of national security. This project thus aims to generate a data-based understanding of the role that religion plays in intergroup relations, while also creating an innovative and relatively inexpensive method for performing cross-cultural research.

Funding

National Science Foundation Division of Social and Economic Sciences

Timeline

January 2008 — December 2011