Putting Some Class into Religious Studies: Resurrecting an Important Concept

Class continues to be important in all aspects of life, but is largely ignored in contemporary religious studies. Despite some claims to the contrary, class matters in the study of religion, though not in the way past scholars have asserted. In this article, I propose an interdisciplinary, three-part definition of class useful for the study of religion. The first two parts affirm that class has and still plays an important role in creating and sustaining social, cultural, and religious distinctions. First, class has served as an externally ascribed marker placed upon particular groups by outsiders engaged in boundary demarcation. Second, class has historically been used as an aspect of individual and group identity. Third, I argue that class plays a role in determining religious preferences. Combining and extrapolating theories and concepts from several scholars, I argue that social class relates to religious preferences in that certain material circumstances make individuals and groups more or less "available" to explore certain religious options. I conclude by suggesting some directions for future research.