Eric Kaufmann - Religions & Demography in Political Studies
As the demographic implosion of secular populations and the higher birth rates of the religious especially among wealthy and educated are acknowledged by more and more people, two different sides of the medal are perceived. My research is focussed on the biocultural explanation and long-term biological effects of religion(s) on fertility, that is: The (ongoing, maybe even accelerating) evolution of religious behavior. But there are, of course, increasingly observable, short-term effects in the societal, cultural and political sphere, too. And there are bright young scholars exploring them as Eric Kaufmann, former research fellow in Harvard and currently Reader in Politics and Sociology, Birbeck, University of London, United Kingdom.
On national and international levels, the higher fertility of religious populations has been explored by Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris in their award-winning "Sacred and Secular" (2004). Eric began to explore these effects within societies - for example, the different number of children born to religious and secular Jews in Israel or throughout Europe (see his paper "Shall the religious inherit the Earth?").
In 2006, Eric predicted in the Prospect Magazine-article "Breeding for God" that the ongoing secularization had reached its peak and dead end on the global level. With regards to Europe, he assumed the reversal of the tide about 2035 due to the demographic implosion of the secular strata and (re-)growing groups of devout Christians, Muslims and other religions. The picture seems to be even more dramatic in Israel, where the seculars are seeking refuge in brands of nationalism a la Avigdor Lieberman as they get rapidly sandwiched between high-fertile Haredi (Jewish orthodox) and Arab (mostly Muslim) populations. See Eric Kaufmann and Richard Cincotta in "The Changing Face of Israel", Foreign Policy 2009.
You may find a deeper look in some of Eric's studies in the blog EpiphenomenA by Tom Rees: Will the religious inherit the earth? In fact, Tom was among the first to link the evolutionary and sociological perspectives in "Why do atheists have fewer kids?"
Two sides of one medal
From my perspective, I am very grateful for the works of Ronald, Pippa Norris and Eric, as they are answering questions which I encounter frequently. Thanks to them, I can recommend good, scientific literature regarding these topics! I think that the long-term, evolutionary side (with a focus on explanations) and the short-term, sociological side (with a focus on outcomes) of the scientific research of religion(s) and demography benefit one other. And I sure love the exchange and hope to see more of the good (and increasingly important) work!
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UK's Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks spoke about the topic of religiosity and demography, warning secular Europe because of it's reproductive implosion:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...ays-Chief-Rabbi.html
Wow...
I started blogging about this in 2006 and was stunned at how few people were discussing these issues at that time. It is good to see more and more discussion of the impact of demographic transition in the world (long after I left blogging!).
Thank you, I just visited your interesting (but unfortunately long-extinct) blog. And yes, I always wondered, too, how slow people tended to react to information that didn't seem to fit in their worldviews. Sometimes, that's very frustrating. But then, we are making slow progress, see i.e. here:
http://bhascience.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-do-atheists-have-fewer-kids.htmlI would be very happy if you would chose to resume blogging or commenting on these issues, so that more people get involved. This time, we are having hard data, graphics etc. to reach out to more people.
Hope to see and read ya often, @DT! :-)