Religious Identities, Social Networks and the Power of Information
Fieldwork Issues in Mapping Religious Diversity in London
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v1i3.291Keywords:
Atlas of Faith project, mobility, social networks, urban religionAbstract
The work of Manuel Castells is perhaps the most comprehensive treatment of contemporary urban society covering urban geography, urban social movements, the power of identity, the rise of the network society and the significance of information technologies at a global level. Other sociologists such as Robertson and Beyer have developed theories of globalization and glocalization with particular reference to religion, while scholars in the disciplines of anthropology and cultural studies have provided useful models for understanding ethnicities and identities. Finally theorists of social capital such as Coleman, Putnam or Bourdieu have produced influential ways of looking at social cohesion and local social networks. This paper will enter into dialogue with each of these major themes in a reflective account of fieldwork practice and findings in the East London Atlas of Faiths project co-ordinated by the author in the late 1990s. Religious organizations and individuals are seen as engaging with the three types of collective identity described by Castells, legitimizing, resistance and project. However, it is with resistance, albeit so implicit that it is better termed support and survival identity, that the majority of religious organizations working with ethnic minorities in East London are concerned. In a globalizing, rapidly changing setting, described by Castells as a "space of flows" resistance is shown by lack of trust of all things official, thus making information gathering particularly difficult. The reflexive analysis of the situation linked with the faith-based transformative ?project identities? that they have espoused raises difficult political and ethical questions for researchers themselves.
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References
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Castells, M., and A. Sheridan, 1977, The Urban Question: A Marxist Approach. London, Edward Arnold.
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Coleman, S., and P. Collins (eds.), 2004, Religion, Identity and Change: Perspectives on Global Transformations. Aldershot: Ashgate.
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Freston P., 1998, ‘Evangelicalism and Globalisation: General Observations and Some Latin American Dimensions’. In M. Hutchinson and O. Kalu (eds.), A Global Faith? Essays on Evangelicalism and Globalisation. Sydney: Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity: 69-88.
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Knott, K., and S. Khoker, 1993, ‘Religious and Ethnic Identity among Young Women in Bradford’. New Community 19(4): 593-610.
Lewis, P., 1996, Islamic Britain: Religion, Politics and Identity among British Muslims. London: IB Tauris.
Lyon, D., 1998, ‘Wheels within Wheels: Glocalisation and Contemporary Religion’, In M. Hutchinson and O. Kalu (eds.), A Global Faith? Essays on Evangelicalism and Globalisation. Sydney: Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity: 47-68.
—2002, ‘Surveillance as Social Sorting: Computer Codes and Mobile Bodies’. In D. Lyon, Surveillance as Social Sorting: Privacy, Risk, and Digital Discrimination. New York, Routledge: 13-30.
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Modood, T., 2005, Multicultural Politics : Racism, Ethnicity and Muslims in Britain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Modood, T., and R. Berthoud, 1997, Ethnic minorities in Britain: Diversity and Disadvantage: The Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities. London: Policy Studies Institute.
Nesbitt, E., 1991, ‘My Dad’s Hindu, my Mum’s Side Are Sikhs’. Issues in Religious Identity, Arts, Culture,Education Research and Curriculum Papers. Charlbury: National Foundation for Arts Education.
North West Development Agency (NWDA), 2003, Faith in England's North West. Warrington, North West Development Agency.
Putnam, R.D., 1993, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
—1995, ‘Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America’, Political Science and Politics 28(4):664-83.
—2000, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Rex, J., and R.S. Moore, 1967, Race, Community and Conflict: A Study of Sparkbrook. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Robertson, R., 1992, Globalisation: Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage Publications.
—1995, ‘Glocalisation: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity’. In M. Featherstone (ed.), Global Modernities: London: Sage: 25-44.
Smith G., 1996, ‘The Unsecular City: The Revival of Religion in East London’. In M. Rustin and T. Butler (eds.), Rising in the East. London: Lawrence & Wishart: 123-46.
—1998, ‘A Very Social Capital: Measuring the Vital Signs of Community Life in Newham’. In B. Knight, M. Smerdon and C. Pharaoh (eds.), Building Civil Society. West Malling, Kent: Charities Aid Foundation: 51-73.
—2000, ‘Global Systems and Religious Diversity in the Inner City: Migrants in the East End of London’. International Journal on Multicultural Societies 2(1): 16-39. www.unesco.org /shs/ijms/vol2/issue1/art2.
—2001, ‘Religion as a Source of Social Capital in the Regeneration and Globalisation of East London’. Rising East 4(3): 124-53.
—2002a, ‘Faith in Local Politics: A Case Study from an Inner London Borough’. Presented at conference of British Sociological Association, Sociology of Religion Study Group, Birmingham April 2002, http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/G.Smith/faithandpolitics.rtf.
—2002b, ‘Religion and the Rise of Social Capitalism’, Community Development Journal 37(2): 167–77.
—2003, Faith in the Voluntary Sector: A Common or Distinctive Experience of Religious Organisations? Manchester: Working Papers in Applied Social Research, Department of Sociology, University of Manchester.
—2004a, ‘Faith in Community and Communities of Faith? Government Rhetoric and Religious Identity in Urban Britain’, Journal of Contemporary Religion 19(2): 185-204.
—2004b, ‘Implicit Religion and Faith Based Urban Regeneration’, Implicit Religion 7(2): 152-82.
Smith, G., and A. Soteri-Procter, 2004. ‘Tracing and Mapping: The Challenges of Compiling Databases and Directories’. In Social Research Update, Issue 42 published on paper and on the web by the Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2.
Sweeney, J., D. Hannah and K. McMahon, 2001, From Story to Policy: Social Exclusion, Empowerment and the Churches. Cambridge: Von Hugel Institute, St Edmund’s College, Cambridge.
Taylor, J., 2000, ‘After Secularism: British Governance and the Inner Cities’. Paper given at 25th Anniversary Conference of the British Sociological Association, Sociology of Religion Study Group, at Exeter University, April 2000.
Tajfel, H., 1982, Social Identity and Intergroup Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tomlinson, J., 2003, ‘Globalisation and Cultural Identity’. In D. Held and A. McGrew (eds.), The Global Transformations Reader; An Introduction to the Globalisation Debate. 2nd edn; Cambridge: Polity: 260-77.
Barth, F., 1969, Introduction to Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Boston: Little Brown.
Beyer, P., 1994, Religion and Globalisation. London: Sage Publications.
—1998a, ‘Global Migration and the Selective Re-imagining of Religions’. Horizontes Antropológicos 8: 12-33.
—1998b, ‘The City and Beyond as Dialogue: Negotiating Religious Authenticity in Global Society’. Social Compass 45: 61-73.
Bourdieu, P., 1986, ‘The Forms of Capital’. In J.G. Richardson (ed.), Handbook for Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood Press: 241-58.
Bourma, G.D., (ed.), 1996, Many Religions All Australian: Religious Settlement, Identity and Cultural Diversity. Nunawading: Christian Research Association of Australia.
Church and Neighbourhood Development in London (CANDL), 1997, Directory of Churches and Christian Groups in Tower Hamlets. London: CANDL.
Church and Neighbourhood Development in London (CANDL), 1999, Religious Groups in Hackney. 2nd edn; London: CANDL.
Castells, M., 1996, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. I. The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
—1997, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. II. The Power of Identity. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
—1998, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. III. The End of the Millennium. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Castells, M., and A. Sheridan, 1977, The Urban Question: A Marxist Approach. London, Edward Arnold.
Coleman J., 1990, Foundations of Social Theory. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Coleman, S., and P. Collins (eds.), 2004, Religion, Identity and Change: Perspectives on Global Transformations. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Eck, D.L., 2001, A New Religious America: How a ‘Christian Country’ Has Now Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
Farnell, R., R. Furbey, S. Shams, H. Hills, M. Macey and G. Smith, 2003, Faith in Urban Regeneration? Engaging Faith Communities in Urban Regeneration; York and Bristol. Bristol: The Policy Press
Finneron, D., and A. Dinham, 2002, Building on Faith: Faith Buildings in Urban Renewal. London: Church Urban Fund.
Freston P., 1998, ‘Evangelicalism and Globalisation: General Observations and Some Latin American Dimensions’. In M. Hutchinson and O. Kalu (eds.), A Global Faith? Essays on Evangelicalism and Globalisation. Sydney: Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity: 69-88.
Furbey, R., and M. Macey, 2005, ‘Religion and Urban Regeneration: A Place for Faith?’ Policy and Politics 33(1): 95-116.
Fukuyama, F., 1995, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York: The Free Press.
Greater London Enterprise/Local Churches Group for Social Action (GLE/LCG), 2002, Neighbourhood Renewal in London: The Role of Faith Communities: A Report by the London Churches Group for Social Action and Greater London Enterprise. London: GLE.
Granovetter, M., 1973, ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’. American Journal of Sociology 78(6): 1360-80.
Greeley, A., 1997, ‘Coleman Revisited: Religious Structures as a Source of Social Capital’. American Behavioural Scientist 40(5): 587-94.
Home Office, 1999, Policy Action Team on Community Self-Help Report September 1999, London: Home Office, Active Community Unit.
Jacobsen, J., 1998, Islam in Transition. London: Routledge.
Knott, K., 1984, Religion and Identity, and the Study of Ethnic Minority Religions. Leeds: University of Leeds, Department of Theology and Religious Studies.
—1992a, The Changing Character of the Religions of the Ethnic Minorities of Asian Origin in Britain: Final Report of a Leverhulme Project. Leeds: University of Leeds, Department of Theology and Religious Studies.
—1992b, The Role of Religious Studies in Understanding the Ethnic Experience. Leeds: University of Leeds, Department of Theology and Religious Studies.
Knott, K., and S. Khoker, 1993, ‘Religious and Ethnic Identity among Young Women in Bradford’. New Community 19(4): 593-610.
Lewis, P., 1996, Islamic Britain: Religion, Politics and Identity among British Muslims. London: IB Tauris.
Lyon, D., 1998, ‘Wheels within Wheels: Glocalisation and Contemporary Religion’, In M. Hutchinson and O. Kalu (eds.), A Global Faith? Essays on Evangelicalism and Globalisation. Sydney: Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity: 47-68.
—2002, ‘Surveillance as Social Sorting: Computer Codes and Mobile Bodies’. In D. Lyon, Surveillance as Social Sorting: Privacy, Risk, and Digital Discrimination. New York, Routledge: 13-30.
Martikainen, T., 2002, ‘Mapping Religions’. In H. Pesonen, T. Sakaranaho, T. Sjöblom and T. Ultriainen (eds.), Styles and Positions: Ethnographic Perspectives in Comparative Religion. Department of Religion Series: Helsinki University: 312-29.
Modood, T., 2005, Multicultural Politics : Racism, Ethnicity and Muslims in Britain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Modood, T., and R. Berthoud, 1997, Ethnic minorities in Britain: Diversity and Disadvantage: The Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities. London: Policy Studies Institute.
Nesbitt, E., 1991, ‘My Dad’s Hindu, my Mum’s Side Are Sikhs’. Issues in Religious Identity, Arts, Culture,Education Research and Curriculum Papers. Charlbury: National Foundation for Arts Education.
North West Development Agency (NWDA), 2003, Faith in England's North West. Warrington, North West Development Agency.
Putnam, R.D., 1993, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
—1995, ‘Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America’, Political Science and Politics 28(4):664-83.
—2000, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Rex, J., and R.S. Moore, 1967, Race, Community and Conflict: A Study of Sparkbrook. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Robertson, R., 1992, Globalisation: Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage Publications.
—1995, ‘Glocalisation: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity’. In M. Featherstone (ed.), Global Modernities: London: Sage: 25-44.
Smith G., 1996, ‘The Unsecular City: The Revival of Religion in East London’. In M. Rustin and T. Butler (eds.), Rising in the East. London: Lawrence & Wishart: 123-46.
—1998, ‘A Very Social Capital: Measuring the Vital Signs of Community Life in Newham’. In B. Knight, M. Smerdon and C. Pharaoh (eds.), Building Civil Society. West Malling, Kent: Charities Aid Foundation: 51-73.
—2000, ‘Global Systems and Religious Diversity in the Inner City: Migrants in the East End of London’. International Journal on Multicultural Societies 2(1): 16-39. www.unesco.org /shs/ijms/vol2/issue1/art2.
—2001, ‘Religion as a Source of Social Capital in the Regeneration and Globalisation of East London’. Rising East 4(3): 124-53.
—2002a, ‘Faith in Local Politics: A Case Study from an Inner London Borough’. Presented at conference of British Sociological Association, Sociology of Religion Study Group, Birmingham April 2002, http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/G.Smith/faithandpolitics.rtf.
—2002b, ‘Religion and the Rise of Social Capitalism’, Community Development Journal 37(2): 167–77.
—2003, Faith in the Voluntary Sector: A Common or Distinctive Experience of Religious Organisations? Manchester: Working Papers in Applied Social Research, Department of Sociology, University of Manchester.
—2004a, ‘Faith in Community and Communities of Faith? Government Rhetoric and Religious Identity in Urban Britain’, Journal of Contemporary Religion 19(2): 185-204.
—2004b, ‘Implicit Religion and Faith Based Urban Regeneration’, Implicit Religion 7(2): 152-82.
Smith, G., and A. Soteri-Procter, 2004. ‘Tracing and Mapping: The Challenges of Compiling Databases and Directories’. In Social Research Update, Issue 42 published on paper and on the web by the Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2.
Sweeney, J., D. Hannah and K. McMahon, 2001, From Story to Policy: Social Exclusion, Empowerment and the Churches. Cambridge: Von Hugel Institute, St Edmund’s College, Cambridge.
Taylor, J., 2000, ‘After Secularism: British Governance and the Inner Cities’. Paper given at 25th Anniversary Conference of the British Sociological Association, Sociology of Religion Study Group, at Exeter University, April 2000.
Tajfel, H., 1982, Social Identity and Intergroup Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tomlinson, J., 2003, ‘Globalisation and Cultural Identity’. In D. Held and A. McGrew (eds.), The Global Transformations Reader; An Introduction to the Globalisation Debate. 2nd edn; Cambridge: Polity: 260-77.
Published
2005-12-01
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Smith, G. (2005). Religious Identities, Social Networks and the Power of Information: Fieldwork Issues in Mapping Religious Diversity in London. Fieldwork in Religion, 1(3), 291-311. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v1i3.291
