Faith in a Dark Place: Motivations for Religiosity in Prison

• In Event: Poster Session 1

Abstract

Allport and Ross (1967) found religious motivations of individuals are either intrinsic, meaning they pursue religion for the sake of establishing a relationship with their higher power, or extrinsic, meaning they pursue religion as a means of gaining benefits. For the purposes of this ethnographic study, a scale inspired by the research of Allport and Ross was created to determine religious motivations of incarcerated individuals. The religious motivation for incarcerated individuals is a relatively unknown topic, surrounded with much stigma and assumptions. This paper hypothesized that determinately sentenced incarcerated individuals are more likely to be extrinsically motivated in their religiosity, when compared to incarcerated individuals serving indeterminate sentences who are hypothesized to be more intrinsically motivated. After conducting eight in-depth interviews with both determinately and indeterminately sentenced individuals of various faiths, the data found both groups of incarcerated people were equally likely to be intrinsically motivated in their religiosity and just as likely to have a genuine religious experience and life-changing awakening. This research adds to the current literature of religious motivations by including incarcerated populations into the conversation and has the potential to change opinions within society concerning the capacity of incarcerated individuals to sincerely experience religious change.

Author

• Kelly McLeod, University of California, Irvine