Religious Social Distance: A Comparison of Georgian, German

and Japanese Students

Nino Javakhishvili

Johann Schneider

Ana Makashvili

Natia Kochlashvili

Ilia State University (Tbilisi, Georgia)

Saarland University (Saarbrücken, Germany)

2012-2013

What is Social Distance?

Emory Bogardus: “the degree of sympathetic understanding that exists between two persons or between a person and a group” (1933).

Robert Park: concept of social distance, is “to reduce to something like measurable terms the grades and degrees of understanding and intimacy which characterize personal and social relations generally” (1924).

“Measurable terms” were elaborated by

Emory Bogardus in 1924

Instrument:

The Social Distance Scale

consists of 7 items designating various social distances. Items start from the shortest social distance, followed

by other social distances gradually increasing in length.

Just to give an example:(Respondent is asked to place a check-mark against all

statements with which they agree):

e.g. I would make Georgians…

1. As close relatives by marriage (1.00)

2. As my close personal friends (2.00)

3. As neighbors on the same street (3.00)

4. As co-workers in the same occupation (4.00)

5. As citizens in my country (5.00)

6. As only visitors in my country (6.00)

7. Would exclude from my country (7.00)

*Thus, low score indicates low social distance, high score indicates high social distance.

Why Study Religious Social Distance in

Georgia?

Situation Today

Prejudiced rhetoric and even discrimination towardsreligious minorities have been activated during therecent years.

For example, the Orthodox population of one of therural regions of Georgia had recently been impedinglocal Muslim residents from their religious service(Tabula, 29.10.2012).

Media studies show hate speech usage to ethnicminorities, especially in 3 nationwide newspapers(media monitoring results, 2011, 2012).

European Commission has appealed to Georgia twiceagainst racism and intolerance with recommendation ofcriminalizing hate speech.

General Overview of Religions in Georgia

Religions %

Orthodox Christians 83.9%

Muslims 9.9%

Apostolic Armenians 3.9%

Catholics 0.8%

Judaists 0.1%

Other 0.8%

Non-believers 0.6%

General Overview of Religions in Germany

Religions %

Protestants 34%

Catholics 34%

Muslims 3.7%

Non-believers/Other 28.3%

General Overview of Religions in Japan

Religions %

Shinto 51%

Buddhists 44%

Christians 1%

Other denominations 4%

Research Questions

o What are the distances of

Georgian, German and Japanese

students to various religions?

o And how can these distances be

compared and be explained?

Georgian SampleBA students from the University

N = 91

Male – 45.7%

Female – 55.3%

Orthodox Christians – 85.7%

Others – 14.3%

Religious – 83%

Non-religious – 9%

German Sample

BA students from the University

N =114

Male – 31%

Female – 69%

Catholics – 25%

Protestants – 21%

Non-believers – 48%

Japanese Sample

BA students from the University

N = 98

Male – 61%

Female – 39%

Buddhists – 4%

Shinto – 4%

Non-religious – 66%

Religious Groups to Assess

Buddhists

Catholics

Muslims

Protestants

Shinto (*not in the case of

Georgian sample)

ResultsMinimal and Maximal Scores

Georgian sample appear to be the most distanced,

followed by Japanese and German students.

Minimal Score Maximal Score Difference between Minimal and Maximal Scores

German Sample 1.22 2.79 1.57

Japanese Sample 2.45 3.20 0.75

Georgian Sample 2.74 4.18 1.44

ResultsMean Distance Scores to various Religions

Muslims are held at the farthest distance for all

three sample

German Sample (Mean)

Rank Order

Japanese Sample(Mean)

Rank Order

Georgian Sample(Mean)

Rank Order

Protestants 1.22 1 2.76 4 3.80 2

Shinto 2.18 4 2.74 3 ____ ____

Catholics 1.35 2 2.70 2 2.74 1

Buddhists 1.91 3 2.45 1 3.94 3

Muslims 2.79 5 3.20 5 4.18 4

Why are Georgians the most distanced

among the three sample?

Social Distance – a Component of Prejudice

• Social distance is regarded as one of the components

of prejudice.

• Research community in social sciences shares the

statement that people hold prejudices toward

representatives of other groups, be these ethnic,

religious, sexual, racial and others.

• Reasons of prejudice may vary, beginning from the

socio-economic conditions (the lower the employment

rate in a country, the higher economic competition and

thus, levels of prejudice) to personal traits (such as

authoritarianism, emotional insecurity).

Religiosity as one of the Reasons of

Prejudiced Attitudes

As Scheepers, Gijsberts and Hello found out in their study on European countries (Religiosity and Prejudice against Ethnic Minorities in Europe: Cross-National Tests on a Controversial Relationship, 2002),

“Catholics and Protestants support prejudice against ethnic minorities more than non-religious people. It turns out that the more frequently people attend church, the more they are prejudiced”.

The Factor of Religion in Georgian’s day-to-day Lives

How Important is religion in your daily life? (%) CB, 2010

Data from other sources

The influential role of religion in Georgians ’ everyday lives is

supported by the study carried out in 2011 on the sample consisting

of 1058 respondents (Sumbadze N.: Generations and Values, 2012):

The majority of respondents (56.3%) thinks there is only one

veritable religion and that is the Orthodox Church.

The majority of respondents (56.3%) believes in the existence of the

only one true religion, i.e., the Orthodox Christianity.

Only 23.7% of population think that other religions in Georgia should

enjoy the same rights as Orthodox church.

The majority of respondents (65.9%) identify themselves more with a

“Veritable Christian” rather than with a “citizen of Georgia” (34.1%).

Age in Combination with Religion

(Overview)

• Soviet regime (Georgia being one of the USSR’s countries)

was accompanied by the elimination of religion.

• Religious sentiments of Georgians started flourishing after

the fall of the Soviet Union.

Age in Combination with Religion

(Overview)

That was exactly in 1990’s of the 20th century that

saw the strengthening of Orthodox institutes,

building of lots of new, architecturally quite

unflattering churches and introducing the

religious education in public schools.

Thus, it might not be surprising that “the vast

majority of religiously active population are young

people, living in the capital city, with higher

education, who spent their childhood in 1990’s –

in the most harsh (insecure) political and

economic situation” (Kekelia, Gavashelishvili,

Ladaria, Sulkhanishvili, 2013).

Caucasus Barometer, 2010

Socio-economic Conditions as one

of the reasons of Prejudice

Today, Georgia is still in the process

of formation as a state nation and

democracy, and the remaining

problems with its sovereignty

continue to threaten its identity and

socio-economic stability (1/3 of

Georgian territories is occupied by

Russia; unemployment rate around

16%), as compared to the socially

more stable, democratic and secure

environment of Germany

(unemployment rate around 7%, no

threats to international security) and

Japan (unemployment rate around

5%, no threats to international

security).

Specific Social Distances to

Religious Groups

Not surprisingly:

Georgians place the representatives of Christian religion at close distances;

Germans place Protestants and Catholics nearer;

While Japanese place Buddhists and Catholics at the closest, keeping Shinto a bit far than the former.

Worldly Events Shaping

the Social Distances

Several authors (e.g.: Bogardus, 1946, 1956,1968;

Basabe, 1966) emphasize the role of historical

events in determining the social distance scores,

which could be the case why Muslims are kept at

the farthest distances for all three samples:

The stereotypical 9/11 image works as a shortcut

for respondents whilst assessing this religious

group.

In addition,

In case of Georgian and Japanese samples, we found high positive significant correlations between gender and social distance to Muslims.

Moreover, female students tend to be more distanced towards Muslims than males.

Gender and Distance toward Muslims

the participants of focus groups emphasize the situation of women in Muslim culture. Whether their ideas are based upon stereotypes or on real facts, their attitudes are strongly determined by this circumstance:

“Women are oppressed there.”

“Their traditions allow them to discriminate against women.I’ve seen a movie based on real life stories where they hitwomen with stones.”

“They discriminate against women, and I can’t tolerate that.Women have to wear headscarves and that is quiteunfamiliar for me…”

Conclusion

The above discussed, as well as the general findings of this study, can be summarized in Bogardus’ words that serve as an interpretation to his own findings:

“A people feels nearer to another people of similar culture patterns and backgrounds than to the other peoples unless serious competition of some kind occurs between them” (Bogardus, 1958, p. 134).

Thank You for Your Attention

References• Bogardus E. S. (1933). A Social Distance Scale. Sociology and Social Research,

17, 265–271.

• Park, R. (1924). The Concept of Social Distance As Applied to the Study of Racial Attitudes and Racial Relations. Journal of Applied Sociology, 8, 339–344.

• Magazine Tabula (2012, October 29). New Details Regarding the Faith of Muslims in the Village Nigvziani [in Georgian].

• CRRC Georgia (Media Monitoring Results, 2011; 2012). The Caucasus Research Barometer. Available Online: http://www.crrc.ge/.

• Scheepers P., Gijsberts M. & Hello E. (2002). Religiosity and Prejudice against Ethnic Minorities in Europe: Cross-National Tests on a Controversial Relationship. Review of Religious Research, 43 (3), 242–265.

• Sumbadze N. (2012). Generations and Values. Tbilisi: Institute for Policy Studies.

• Kekelia T., Gavashelishvili E., Ladaria K. & Sulkhanishvili I. (2013). The Role of Orthodox Church in Formation of Georgian National Identity. Tbilisi: Ilia State University.

• Bogardus, E. S. (1938). Social distance and its practical applications. Sociology and Social Research, 22, 462–476.

• Bogardus, E. S. (1958). Racial Distance Changes in the United States During the Past Thirty Years. Sociology and Social Research, 43, 127–135.

• Basabe, F. (1966). Attitudes of Japanese Students toward Foreign Countries. Monumenta Nipponica, 21, 1/2, 61–96.