
Religion plays a prominent role in many societies and can affect many aspects of people’s lives, including their health. Ephraim Shapiro and Chen Sharony explore this link.
Though despite many more such results, the authors explain the difficulties of separating the roles of religious capital from those of social capital. Social capital benefits health status in many studies, most of which are unrelated to religion. Moreover, the two forms, social and religious capital, occur together in most religious experiences. The congregation meets together and the communities formed have most of the same features as just described for social capital. Statistical studies find that the two are well correlated. As Putnam said, “faith communities…are arguably the most important repository of social capital in America”.
What conclusions are possible given this large literature review and Shapiro and Sharony’s assessment of it? They found cases where the religious message makes a difference for health gains whether related to one of several religious philosophies (secular, Christian, Mohammedan, or Jewish) or to the strength of the individual’s adherence to it. The authors also explain the very close and complex relationship between religious capital and social capital. While this separation will likely remain the goal of continued research, Shapiro and Sharony conclude by describing practical policies to encourage the growth of the two working together.
Elgar Companion to Social Capital and Health edited by Sherman Folland and Eric Nauenberg is out now.
Read chapter six Religious and social capital and health free on Elgaronline
Also on ElgarBlog: Read Why Trust is Good for your Health by Martin Ljunge. Read Martin Ljunge’s chapter Trust promotes health: addressing reverse causality by studying children of immigrants free on Elgaronline for a limited time
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