The power of religion
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The power of religion. / Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding; Gokmen, Gunes .
I: Journal of Economic Growth, Bind 28, 2023, s. 45-78.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The power of religion
AU - Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding
AU - Gokmen, Gunes
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - This paper studies to what extent religion has been used to legitimize political powerthroughout the world and how this matters for current institutions. Historically, some rulers have used religion to legitimize their power, while others relied on more democratic means. This tendency, termed divine legitimization, incentivized rulers to embed religion into institutions. We illustrate within a simple framework that the use of religion to legitimize power and the consequent institutionalization of religion may help explain why religion and religious institutions have persisted despite modernization. To test empirically, we combine data on pre-modern religious beliefs across 1265 ethnographic societies, various geographic data, and current data on the prevalence of religious laws in 176 countries. We provide evidence in support of divine legitimization and the resulting institutionalization of religion. For identification, we exploit exogenous variation in the incentives to employreligion for power purposes. We further document that countries that relied on divine legitimization are more autocratic today and their populace more religious. These results contribute to our understanding of the persistence of religious as well as autocratic institutions.
AB - This paper studies to what extent religion has been used to legitimize political powerthroughout the world and how this matters for current institutions. Historically, some rulers have used religion to legitimize their power, while others relied on more democratic means. This tendency, termed divine legitimization, incentivized rulers to embed religion into institutions. We illustrate within a simple framework that the use of religion to legitimize power and the consequent institutionalization of religion may help explain why religion and religious institutions have persisted despite modernization. To test empirically, we combine data on pre-modern religious beliefs across 1265 ethnographic societies, various geographic data, and current data on the prevalence of religious laws in 176 countries. We provide evidence in support of divine legitimization and the resulting institutionalization of religion. For identification, we exploit exogenous variation in the incentives to employreligion for power purposes. We further document that countries that relied on divine legitimization are more autocratic today and their populace more religious. These results contribute to our understanding of the persistence of religious as well as autocratic institutions.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - Religion
KW - Institutionalization of religion
KW - Autocracy
KW - Religious laws
KW - Religious legitimization
KW - Stratification
KW - High Gods
KW - Religiosity
U2 - 10.1007/s10887-022-09214-4
DO - 10.1007/s10887-022-09214-4
M3 - Journal article
VL - 28
SP - 45
EP - 78
JO - Journal of Economic Growth
JF - Journal of Economic Growth
SN - 1381-4338
ER -
ID: 317959000