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Why Has Religiosity in Poland not Changed since 1989? Five Hypotheses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2010

Irena Borowik*
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Irena Borowik, Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Grodzka 52, 31-044, Kraków, Poland. E-mail: uzborowi@cyf-kr.edu.pl

Abstract

Attitudes about religion in Polish society have scarcely changed since 1989, in spite of radical political and economic transformation over the past 20 years, as survey data show. The question is why? In the following article, the author develops five alternative hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. Each of the hypotheses relates to some function of religion that is relevant in contemporary times. Among other things, historical circumstances, the role of Catholicism as a civil religion, security, and hidden privatization form the context in which one may explain the continuing vitality of religion in Poland.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2010

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