Belief in Life after Death and Societal Integration

Abstract

Using a secondary analysis of a national probability sample collected in 1973, the author concluded that religious belief does affect the norm of functional integration. Specifically, the research compared those who accept a belief in an afterlife and those who do not with how they perceived social relationships. It was found that believers more often saw people to be more helpful, trusting, and fair than nonbelievers. These three items were combined into a measure of functional integration and were significantly related with belief even with controls for other variables. These findings were consistent with the classical views of Durkheim and other sociologists.