Existential Security Thesis

4 important questions on Existential Security Thesis

What is the expected development according to Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris  according to their existential security thesis?

'The net effect is that the religious population is growing fast, while the secular number is shrinking, despite the fact that the secularization process is progressing steadily in rich nations.'

Or in other words, the population of religious people is growing, while the population of secular people is steadily growing in believers, but the overall population shrinks because of small families.

Which are the two phases of socio-economic development relevant for this thesis?

  1. From agrarian to industrial societies (people grow for their own needs).
  2. From industrial to post-industrial societies (services, banks, accountancy).

Why is the United States such a religious country according to the existential security thesis?

Because in the US not everyone benefits from the socio-economic developments. There is a huge difference in income, education is very expensive and health care has been an issue for a long time and a lot of people cannot afford health care of health care insurance. This means that a lot of Americans are not existentially secure, although it is a developed country.
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What did Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris show with their research? Use the words birth cohort and life-cycle.

They showed that religion is a birth cohort effect instead of a life-cycle effect, meaning that people do not become more religious the older they become, but is has to do with the society you grow up in. 

If you lived at the age of 12-20 in a society that was less religious, you do not become more religious when you grow older.

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