Global Culture and Subcultures: Identity and Support for Islamic Law in Majority-Muslim Countries

• In Event: 468 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Paper Session. Migration, Nationalism, and Identity

Abstract

Sociologists once thought that a homogenizing global culture would inevitably lead to the ascendance of secularism. Recent studies, however, reveal a resurgence of religion in the political sphere. Subcultural identity theory posits that individuals’ religiously-informed political views are a result of religious self-identification whereby embattled groups thrive by carving out “identity spaces” in opposition to the dominant culture; these identities target the dominant culture as their relevant outgroup. Little scholarship has explored the characteristics of global countercultures, or identity groups that reference global culture and its institutions as the relevant outgroup. This study investigates the impact of feelings of animosity toward international institutions on support for Islamic law (shari’a) in majority-Muslim countries using a mixed-method design combining structural equation modeling, fixed-effects regressions, and in-depth cognitive interviews based on survey items from the quantitative analyses. Results suggest that: 1) negative assessments of international institutions are associated with support for shari’a net of other factors, such as individual religiosity and feelings about western culture, and; 2) individuals tend to frame this association in identity terms, with Muslim identity defined in contrast to an international or universal identity.

Author

• Brandon Gorman, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill