U.S. Adolescent Religious Identity, the Media, and the "Funky" Side of Religion
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22693022 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lynn Schofield Clark (0000-0002-9795-3523, Lynn University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 794-811 |
| Publication date | 2002-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9916 • E-ISSN: 1460-2466 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/joc/52.4.794 |
| OpenAlex | W4230168470 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Television, film, and other forms of narrative fiction have often been understood as direct competitors to the traditional beliefs and values of organized religion. Not all people experience the media in this way, however. This article analyzes several cases in which stories of the afterlife, supernatural, and paranormal in the entertainment media become an important context through which contemporary teens understand religious beliefs. The study employed research from a multiyear ethnographic study to examine narratives of young people with various backgrounds and levels of interest in religion. The article discusses five different ways in which stories from the entertainment media are either rejected or incorporated into what young people claim are their religious beliefs. Building upon cultural studies perspectives, the article demonstrates that entertainment media are one element of a culture that shapes and constrains religious identity construction for contemporary teens and an especially important one for those with few ties to formal religion.
Aesthetics · Afterlife · Art · Context (archaeology) · Entertainment · Ethnography · Identity (music) · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Negotiation · Paranormal · Political science · Religious identity · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.15 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2016 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |