Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: It is well known that women are more religious than men. Miller and Stark (2002) explained this “gender gap” in religiosity as a consequence of men’s greater biological propensity to take risks, or their “risk preference.” Accordingly, they viewed a lack of religious participation as an other-worldly risk. In this paper, we analyze some of the assumptions of risk-preference theory and measure belief in an afterlife to better operationalize other-worldly risk. Using General Social Survey data, we find that risk preference theory cannot adequately explain the gender gap in religiosity because the gender gap is actually larger for those who do not believe in an afterlife than for those who do. We conclude by proposing alternative explanations for findings that contradict Miller and Stark’s theory, with greater attention to sociological understandings of gender.