Family, Evangelicalism and Gender: How Family and Marriage Inform Gender Ideology among College-Age Evangelical Men

• In Event: 165 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Religious Experiences of College and University Students

Abstract

Because family serves as a central function in organizing family life among evangelicals, prior research considering the relationship between evangelicalism, family and gender does so in a manner that focuses predominantly on married evangelicals. The present article provides a contribution to the literature by using in-depth interviews to explore how ten unmarried college-age evangelical men use the evangelical family and marriage as resources to draw from in order to make sense of their current gender role ideologies. The findings suggest that participants (1) draw from the gender relations enacted by their parents during childhood; (2) use the family as a model for “practicing” to be a godly husband and leader; and (3) use a combination of biology and evangelicalism to justify the roles of women and men. Among this sample of unmarried college-age evangelical men, the Christian marriage and family remain central resources that these men draw from when constructing their gender role ideologies.

Author

• Tyler Ross Flockhart, North Carolina State University