Religious Subcultures: Christian and Non-Christian - Research Paper Example

Religious Subcultures: Christian and Non-Christian D. Introduction The purpose of this study is to showcase the Religious Subcultural characteristic based on a comparison between the American resident Christian and Non-Christian Subcultures based on Lifestyle, Values, and Morals. America is basically understood as a secular society. A secular society means that cultural-religious groups do not influence the US political process, education system as well as government operations. In addition, daily activities and behaviors of people are not strictly religious-embedded. To put this into perspective, it is in a common knowledge that about 79% of American population believe in God, with about 36% claim to attend religious services once in a month with about 50% recognizing the importance of religion in their lives. Despite the fact that the United States is a secular society, many religious subcultural cohorts have risen up based on the view of the non-optimality of the secularism concepts (Atwan, Dardess & Rosenthal, 1998, p. 67). Christian conservatism prefers government systems, education and the political process (legal system) as well as a society that incorporates and blends well with their principle beliefs. Dissenting arguments on such salient issues as abortion, homosexual rights, the evolution versus creationism teachings, and prayers in schools are the major driving forces behind the opposition of secularism concept in America. In religious subcultures, religion is a key tool in determining the behavioral activities with respect to moral acts and values amongst American. The significance of religion amongst the religious subcultures is to determine the consumption of goods. One of the many areas that have showcased the important of religion in America is where it has pushed for the consumption of only religion accepted goods and advocate against the consumption of unreligious goods. For instance, consumption of alcohol is unacceptable amongst the religious subcultures. Therefore, those consuming and selling such goods will be unmarked as Christians in the Christian Subculture (Norgren & Nanda, 1996, p. 76). This is because they will appear as antagonist to the lifestyle, values and moral behaviors acceptable by the Christian Subcultures. For this reason, Secularism concepts suffer a blow due to the emerging trends in religious subcultures. In this context, therefore, the researcher will discuss the Christian and Non-Christian subcultures in the United States that have risen to oppose the misplaced notion of secular society. It is noted that most of the American values system and their associated socio-political institution, originate from Christian (Protestants) beliefs and highly attached to behaviors of the early settlers (Stokes, 2014, p. 54). The American values and tradition are drawn from the Judeo-Christian heritage of the majority of American despite the fact that it is a secular society. Other important activities such as the holiday celebrations (Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter are strongly founded on Christian subcultures) (Atwan, Dardess & Rosenthal, 1998, p. 24). Trends and subculture have emerged rendering such activities not purely Christian-based except for the Ester celebrations. The Generation Y and X have adopted a subculture known as ‘young religious’, psychographic cohort as tracked by Yankelovich. The lifestyle of generation ‘Young Religious’ has since attracted the music and movie industry which saw a massive achievement of ‘The Passion of the Christ’. In addition, clothing firms are now tailoring their production to meet the needs of the ‘young religious’ that saw the introduction of ‘Jesus is my homeboy slogan printed T-shirts besides the current elaborative marketing of trendy fashions. Retailers have adopted the trend driven by offensive desires to their consumers declining to embrace the trend. These dissenting cohorts have led to several trends or subculture in Christianity such as Protestants, Roman Catholic, and The Born Again Christian subcultures. They have, therefore, developed particular lifestyles, values and moral behaviors that are distinctly practiced under one umbrella of Christianity. Another subculture is the Non-Christian Subculture. This subculture has also developed values, morals and lifestyles distinguishably employ in determining and shaping daily practices and behaviors. This subculture thus ignores and oppose the concept of secularism in American society. The subcultures hold that their distinct values, moral and lifestyles determine the education systems, government systems as well as a political process. Marketing strategies and consumptions are also influenced by the Non-Christian Subculture’s practices and norms. This opposition of the America Society as a secular institution leads to the emergence of several Non-Christian Subcultures. Non-Christian Subcultures such as Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist will be discussed and compared based on values, lifestyles and moral behavior embraced in contrast to the Christian Subcultures. The researcher will discuss their characteristics based on the American Secular Society concept based on the researcher will focus on the similarities and difference . The deviations from the main Secular societal concept will be shown based on the comparison of difference and similarities noticeable within each minor components of the main Subculture. For instance, Christianity, the researcher shall compare and contrast the similarities and difference in each of its Subculture. E. Results About 52% of American are Protestant. The main tenet (of several faiths) is the direct individual experience with God alongside several Protestant faiths. The Protestant stress on the individual responsibility and control in all aspects of life. This value has been supported by the establishment of a sound work ethics, desire for scientific knowledge, willingness to sacrifice in the future as well as the need for fashionable smaller families (lifestyle). These lifestyles and values have ensured a rise in social mobility yielding the majority of American ruling elite and controlling government and political systems hence opposing the Concept of Secular Society. The values and moral behaviors adopted by the Protestant culture determines the future of American Culture. This reshaping of American culture is best understood by paying a particular attention to the activities and influence of White Protestants of Western European heritage- White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASPs). WASPs enjoy massive power and wealth possession based on tyranny of numbers hence males have dominated historical powers in America. This predominating influence shapes the American cultures due to a collective bargaining power that determines the policy adopted in America. The existence of diverse subcultures leads to different lifestyles and hence valuable characteristic to marketers. The cultural diversity is relevant to consumption of commodities. A Product that has elements of stimulants such as caffeine is not acceptable by the Mormon Church while alcoholic products are barred by the Southern Baptist Church. The degree of conservatism is core in the distinction between the Protestant and Catholic. The American cultural values embrace a middle road conservatism, a feature employed by a majority of Protestant. Catholic subcultures are typically conservative going beyond the American Middle Road cultural Conservatism values. Within population of American Roman Catholic adults is about 25% of the total American religious population. The Catholic Church worked on a highly hierarchical framework and believed to employ the most conservatism values. Individual interpretation of events and scriptures is constrained to the authoritative head, The Pope. Their principle Tenet is the primary marital union of procreation. The Catholic Church prohibits the applicability of pregnancy contraceptives though individuals are deviating from this practice and value. The Catholic advocates larger families than Protestant or Jews. The risk presented by larger family is that economic gains and upward social mobility is at a stake. Consumption of commodities amongst the Catholic Religion is derived from its tenet of Procreation. The core feature in the Church is that its members are diversified and come from different ethnic subcultures with Hispanic forming the major contributor (29% of US Catholics with 3% each African and Asians). They value Encuentro, a manifestation gathering held every few years latest held in 2000 that described various Faces in Gods House originating from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The Catholic Church shows variations in terms of conservatism and commitments and have less restriction on consumptions of the commodities. More conservative Catholic and Protestant have many shared features in terms of values, morals, and lifestyles. Christian entails Fundamentalist Christian, Christian Right, Conservative Christian, Religious Right and/ or Evangelical Christians. The core tenet of the Fundamentalist Christian is their deeply-rooted belief in the literal truth of the Bible. They strongly commit to their religious belief following a ‘born-again experience and mobilize and motivate each other to believe and follow Jesus Christ. They are less educated hence less income relative to the general population. Their gender role adopts the traditional framework or orientation. The Buddhist Population is similar to American Muslim population. Their lifestyle comprises of slightly above average in income and education. They are many Westwards in the United States Despite the various sets in America, they all stress the concept of all beings caught in Samsara- a cycle of suffering and rebirth due to desire and actions that culminates into undesirable Kama. Samara is curbed through nirvana state via Eightfold Path (EP). The EP entails training in concentration and meditation, development of the enlightened wisdom and ethical and disciplinary practices. The population of the Muslim in America is approximated at 5% American adult population and are culturally diverse. The Muslim entail Hispanic, Arab American, Asian American, and African American. There are varying distinct cohorts of Muslim with distinguished values and beliefs just like Protestants but with Koran as the mother values-based. They are also distinguished based on the levels of conservatism. In addition, the division amongst the Muslim is also fueled by a particular importance a cohort attaches to their literal teachings. The Muslims lifestyle is derived from education, work, school, family as well as the desire for happiness and success. They are constrained by drug and alcohol abuse and sexual permissiveness (many oppose dating). The Muslim recognizes the eldest male as the head of the family in a bid to stress on family and respect for the elders. Their consumption of goods is attached to levels of devotions with a more devoured individual oppose eating not only pork but also constraints by restrictive rules and norms of cooking particular food (Lewis & SAagaard, 2005, p. 67). Most of the Muslims values and beliefs oppose the secular society concept are in conflict with American societal values such as images on TVs and movies (amongst the older immigrants Muslims and children born and raised in America). American Muslims embrace their own Magazines, schools, marriage services besides bookstores and social clubs. In addition Non-Christian culture also entails the Jewish population estimated to be about 1.3% of the American adults. The distinct feature of Jewish Subculture is its outstanding inseparability of ethnic and religious identity. Over the past years, Jewish marriages in American were only acceptable within the Subculture but it is has been relinquished. As noted by the Match.com Study, 81% and 72% Jewish single men and women respectively vowing to marry outside the subculture in total disregard to religion, ethnicity, and race. Their lifestyle is that of above average incomes as well as levels of education (Levy, 2008, p. 56). Their consumption patterns match the American in the same social class as Jewish based on income and education levels. The point of distinction amongst the Jewish and the committed lot is the levels of conservatism and commitments to religious beliefs and values. Their consumption pattern is determined by the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Jews do not eat pork besides strict preparation norms in food preparations. The Jewish America follows the Jewish holiday and boycotts secular Christian Holidays and Christmas. The less conservative Jews are not constrained by their strict subculture norms, values, beliefs and tradition and can mingle freely with other subcultures. F. Discussion The discussion will be embedded on the noted results as discussed in the Results Section. The discussion will be structured in three subsections such as, discussing two similarities noted in the subcultures. I addition, three difference will be discussed and summed up by discussing the implication on the classroom setting employability of the findings. With this in mind the researcher discussion takes the following course; Difference Lifestyle Firstly, the main similarity between the Christian and Non-Christian is in terms of levels of income and education (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2008, P. 78). About The Born-Again-Christians, they are noted as the lower income earner and high levels of literacy relative to other noted subcultures. Protestant Subculture is marked as the most influential subculture in America and opposes the concept of secular society as they have elites that drive the government and political system which is against the secular concept (Tan, 2009, p. 176). The difference in incomes and education levels leads to variations in marketing per subculture and hence distinct lifestyle. Secondly, the differences exist on Procreation concept. Whereas Protestant value fashionable and smaller families, Roman Catholic believe on number of children and, therefore, strongly oppose the use of contraceptives. Moral Thirdly, there is a difference in terms of conservatism (Hoover & Clark, 2002, P. 67). The Catholic Subculture is the most known conservative subculture amongst the three Christian subcultures. Individual interpretation of events and scriptures is constrained to the authoritative head (The Pope) relative to other subcultures. The Fundamentalist Christian strongly oppose oppressive political systems and homosexual rights, and consumption of certain commodities such as alcohol and drugs based on their beliefs and values (Smith & Emerson, 1998, P. 54). They oppose sexual over movies and televisions programs rated immoral and against their morals and values. They overstretch to go-slows and boycotts for immorally-considered adverts (Disneys personal; policies that support same sex couple). They fully advocate books, programs and movies that support family (wife, husband, and children) and traditional (Protestants) values. Similarities Values One of the main similarity noted in the two subculture (Christian and Non-Christian) is that consumption of goods is restricted to some products. Across the subcultures discussed, consumption of alcohol and substances like caffeine were restricted. This restriction helps us develop an insight to what religion stand for in the political stance based on some consumption. This help us determine the common value and moral standards across the board. Besides the particular consumption (alcohol) and abuse of drugs (caffeine), comparison between Muslims and Jewish, pork consumption is non-acceptable besides further restriction on food preparation requirements. The Muslim and the Jewish will not eat Pork and even fail to eat on some restaurants and Hotels based on the fear that the food might not have undergone through the required preparation procedures. Secondly, the subcultures have a similar political stance on abortion. Across the cultures, abortion is viewed as unworthy and a sinful act and therefore it is unacceptable. They will, therefore, discourage their followers and those more devoured to keep off from such acts and even oppose Program that have overly sexual overtones. Such as those of Disney have been downtrodden. Another similarity note across the subculture is that the levels of conservatism and commitment to the values and moral beliefs leads to the difference in minor sects within a subculture (McKay, 2009, P. 122). For instance, those Jewish that are more devoured are restricted from attending the Christian holidays, and Christmas the less devoured one do not follow such constraints. There is a similarity of opposition to same Sex Marriages-homosexuality across the subcultures. Application of the Information to a Classroom Set Up The findings in the subcultural characteristic is applicable and relevant in a classroom set up in a number of reasons; firstly, discrimination in classroom will be declined if students clearly understand, recognize and appreciates differences in their values, morals as well as lifestyle. This misunderstanding of particular subculture requirement will uproot the need to uphold the secular society concept in America and hence each entry will rated equal within the classroom setting. Secondly, the understanding of lifestyles, values and moral of a particular culture will help the marketing student get the insights on what particular products and strategies to be employed in marketing (Hawknis, Mothersbaugh & Mookerjee, 2011, P. 122). Thirdly, there will be a need to have a proper representation of each group in the classroom so that each subculture will convey, and their principle grievances solved amicably. Fourthly, the kind of curriculum issued will be easily determined based on the understanding. H. Materials and Methods 1. Methods and keywords Keywords: American Subcultures, Religious Subcultures, Secular Society, Core values, morals, lifestyle. The data were obtained through searching the internet and reviewing the relevant sources about the religious subcultures. 2. Important Sources Smith, C., & Emerson, M. O. (1998). American evangelicalism: Embattled and thriving. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press. Reimer, S. (2003). Evangelicals and the continental divide: The conservative protestant subculture in Canada and the United States. Montreal, Que: McGill-Queens University Press and Wald, K. D., & Calhoun-Brown, A. (2007). Religion and politics in the United States. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers were found important to the study as they gave me insights to the topic. 3. Review and synthesis of information The information was gathered from the internet sources, and thorough reading undertaken based on the core values, moral and lifestyle of various subcultures. 4. Important of Report The report is significant to me as an individual learner based on the provision of knowledge about the Subcultures and hence will make recognize and appreciate each subculture to avoid discrimination. Besides as a teacher, I shall have gathered enough knowledge to help understand the subject fully so as to offer my best to students. To the family and the community at a large, specific core values, moral behaviors and lifestyle will shape people way of life. Reference Primary sources Atwan, R., Dardess, G., & Rosenthal, P. (1998). Divine inspiration: The life of Jesus in world poetry. New York: Oxford University Press. Blanchard, D. A., & Prewitt, T. J. (1993). Religious violence and abortion: The Gideon Project. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Lewis, J. R., & SAagaard, P. J. (2005). Controversial new religions. New York: Oxford University Press. McKay, G. (2009). Subcultures and new religious movements in Russia and East-Central Europe. Oxford: P. Lang. Norgren, J., & Nanda, S. (1996). American cultural pluralism and law. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Praeger. Stokes, Ethan, C. (2014). The Crucifixion of Marriage Equality: Analyses of Protestant Christian Subcultures. ISBN. 9781303865893. Tan, J. Q. (2009). Han Shan, Chan Buddhism and Gary Snyders ecopoetic way. Brighton [England: Sussex Academic Press. Taylor, K. M. (2006). American evangelicals and religious diversity: Subcultural education, theological boundaries, and the relativization of tradition. Greenwich, Conn: Information Age Pub. Secondary Sources Hawknis, D. I., Mothersbaugh, D. L., & Mookerjee, A. (2011). Consumer behavior: Building marketing strategy. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill. Hoover, S. M., & Clark, L. S. (2002). Practicing religion in the age of the media: Explorations in media, religion, and culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Hoyer, W. D., & MacInnis, D. J. (2008). Consumer behavior. Mason, OH: South-Western. Levy, S. M. (2008). Imagination and the journey of faith. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Pub. McKay, G. (2009). Subcultures and new religious movements in Russia and East-Central Europe. Oxford: P. Lang. Smith, C., & Emerson, M. O. (1998). American evangelicalism: Embattled and thriving. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press. Olson, R. (2011). A Dynamic Model for Science and Religion: Interacting Subcultures. Zygon, ISSN, 0591-2385,03/2011, Volume 46, Issue1, pp. 65-83. Liz, S. (2000). More Christians Take Business Into Subcultures of Evangelism. Final Edition. Virginian-Pilot, ISSN 0889-6127. Read More