This research note aims to examine the effect of religion market abuses on religious conversion, particularly on the non-transmission of religious preferences from parents to their offspring. Based on a field survey of 1,475 individuals in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé, this research note seeks to understand the dynamics of the socio-economic forces that lead to the abandonment of parents’ religions. The econometric results reveal that the explanatory factors for changes in religious preferences often vary from one religion to another. With the exception of Pentecostals, Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim believers who believe that the religious market is rife with abuse are less likely to change their religious preferences. Increased income can significantly induce a change in religious preferences among Protestants and Pentecostals.
AgadjanianVictor. 2018. “Women’s Schooling and Religious Mobility: Joining, Switching, and Quitting Church in a Christian Sub-Saharan Setting.”Sociology of Religion78(4):411–36. doi:10.1093/socrel/srx027.
2.
AkokoRobert Mbe. 2007. Ask and You Shall be Given: Pentecostalism and the Economic Crisis in Cameroon. Leiden: African Studies Centre, p. 239.
3.
BarroRobertHwangJasonMcClearyRachel. 2010. “Religious Conversion in 40 Countries.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion49(1):15–36. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2009.01490.x.
DoeblerStefanieShuttleworthIan. 2018. “Religious Identification, Switching, and Apostasy among Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland: Individual and Cohort Dynamics between Two Censuses 2001–2011.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion57(4):723–42. doi:10.1111/jssr.12554.
10.
DrozYvanGezYonatan. 2019. “Pentecôtisation Du Christianisme et Butinage Religieux au Kenya: Entre Fondamentalisme et Mode Populaire d’action Politico- Religieuse [Pentecostalism of Christianity and Religious Foraging in Kenya: Between Fundamentalism and Popular Mode of Politico-Religious Action].”Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines53:1–19. doi:10.1080/00083968.2019.1577146.
11.
DrozYvanSoaresEdioGezYonatan N.ReyJeanne. 2016. “La Mobilité Religieuse à l’aune Du Butinage [Mobility in Religion as Measured by Religious Foraging].”Social Compass63(2):251–67. doi:10.1177/0037768616629305.
12.
DurkinJohn T.Greeley.Andrew M.1991. “A Model of Religious Choice Under Uncertainty: On Responding Rationally to the Nonrational.”Rationality and Society3(2):178–96. doi:10.1177/1043463191003002003.
13.
FancelloSandra. 2011. “Pasteurs et sorciers en procés. L’affaire Béhanzin (Cte d’Ivoire).”Politique Africaine122(2): 121–43.
14.
HaywardR. DavidKrauseNeal. 2014. “Changes in Religious Group Affiliation During Older Adulthood: Evidence from an 11-Year Longitudinal Study.”Review of Religious Research56(4):539–54. doi:10.1007/s13644-014-0151-8.
IannacconeLaurence R.1990. “Religious Practice: A Human Capital Approach.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion29(3):297–314. doi:10.2307/1386460.
17.
IannacconeLaurence R.1994. “Why Strict Churches Are Strong.”American Journal of Sociology99(5):1180–211. doi:10.1086/230409.
18.
JohnsonTodd M.ZurloGina A., eds. 2016. World Christian Database: International Religious Demographic Statistics and Sources. Leiden/Boston: Brill.
19.
KimYoung-IlWilcoxBradford W.2014. “Religious Identity, Religious Attendance, and Parental Control.”Review of Religious Research56: 555–80.
20.
LasseurMaud. 2005. “Cameroun: Les Nouveaux Territoires de Dieu [Cameroon: The New Territories of the Gods].”Afrique contemporaine215(3):93–116. doi:10.3917/afco.215.0093.
21.
LauHsien-HsienWolfingerNicholas H.2011, “Parental Divorce and Adult Religiosity: Evidence From the General Social Survey.”Review of Religious Research53: 85–103.
22.
LeBlancMarie Nathalie. 2003. “Les Trajectoires de Conversion et L’identite Sociale Chez Les Jeunes Dans Le Contexte Postcolonial Ouest-Africain: Les Jeunes Musulmans et Les Jeunes Chretiens en Cote-d’Ivoire [Conversion Trajectories and Social Identity Among Youth in the Postcolonial West African Context: Muslim and Christian Youth in Côte d’Ivoire].”Anthropologie et Sociétés27(1):85–110. doi:10.7202/007003ar.
23.
LeBlancD.LollivierS.MarpsatM. D.VergerD. (2000). L’économétrie et l’étude des comportements : mise en oeuvre de modéles de régression qualitatifs, les modéles univariés á résidus logistiques ou normaux (logit, probit). Document de travail INSEE. Unité méthodologie statistique,No 0001, p. 93.
24.
LovelandMatthew T.2003. “Religious Switching: Preference Development, Maintenance, and Change.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion42(1):147–57. doi:10.1111/1468-5906.00168.
25.
McFaddenDaniel. 1974. “The Measurement of Urban Travel Demand.”Journal of Public Economics3(4):303–28. doi:10.1016/0047-2727(74)90003-6.
26.
MomoBernard. 1999. “La Laïcité de l’État dans L’espace Camerounais [The Secular State of Cameroonian Space].”Les Cahiers de Droit40(4):821–47. doi:10.7202/043579ar.
27.
MpabeBodjongo Mathieu Juliot. 2015. “Marché de la Religion et Bien-Être au Cameroun: Libéralisation Versus Régulation [The Market for Religion and Wellbeing in Cameroon: Liberalization Versus Regulation].” Doctoral thesis, Université de Yaoundé II, p. 301.
28.
MpabeBodjongo Mathieu Juliot. 2020. “Regulations of Noise Pollution Emitted by Revival Churches and the Well-Being of Neighboring Populations in Cameroon.”Environmental Economics11(1):82–95. doi:10.21511/ee.11(1).2020.08.
29.
MpabeBodjongo Mathieu JuliotAbbaIbrahim. 2018. “An Economic Analysis of the Rise of American Pentecostalism in Urban Areas in Cameroon.”Revue Deconomie du Developpement26(1):53–106.
30.
NIS. 2007. “Données Statistiques de la Troisième Enquête sur le Revenu des Ménages au Cameroun (ECA 3) [Statistical Data of the Third Investigation of Household Income in Cameeroon.].”Yaoundé: National Institute of Statistics of Cameroon (NIS).
NunnNathan. 2010. “Religious Conversion in Colonial Africa.”American Economic Review100(2):147–52. doi:10.1257/aer.100.2.147.
33.
Ongong’aJude J.Akaranga.Stephen I.2013. “The Dynamics of Religiosity and Spirituality in Kenyan Public Univeresities.”International Journal of Education and Research1(6):241–58. Retrieved from (https://www.ijern.com/journal/June-2013/04.pdf).
34.
SandomirskySharonWilsonJohn. 1990. “Processes of Disaffiliation: Religious Mobility among Men and Women.”Social Forces68(4):1211–29. doi:10.1093/sf/68.4.1211.
SimmelGeorg. 2004. The Philosophy of Money, edited by FrisbyDavid and translated by TomBottomoreFrisbyDavid. 3rd ed.London, UK and New York, NY: Routledge.
37.
StarkRogerFinkeRoger. 2000. Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 343.
38.
SudmanSeymourBradburn.Norman M.1982. Asking Questions: A Practical Guide to Questionnaire Design. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
39.
SuhDanielRussellRaymond. 2015. “Non-Affiliation, Non-Denominationalism, Religious Switching, and Denominational Switching: Longitudinal Analysis of the Effects on Religiosity.”Review of Religious Research57(1):25–41. doi:10.1007/s13644-014-0197-7.
40.
VoasDavidCrockettAlasdair. 2005. “Religion in Britain: Neither Believing nor Belonging.”Sociology39(1):11–28. doi:10.1177/0038038505048998.
41.
VoasDavidStormIngrid. 2012. “The Intergenerational Transmission of Churchgoing in England and Australia.”Review of Religious Research53(4):377–95. doi:10.1007/s13644-011-0026-1.
42.
Von NeumannJohnMorgensternOskar. 1944. Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
43.
WellsPaulBergèseDaniel. 1992. Christianisme et Tolérance [Christianity and Tolerance]. Aix-en-Provence, France: Editions Kérygma.
44.
WilkinsonRenae. 2018. “Losing or Choosing Faith: Mother Loss and Religious Change.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion57(4):758–78. doi:10.1111/jssr.12542.
45.
WulffKeith M. (2011), “Are Pastors the Cause of the Loss of Church Membership?.”Review of Religious Research53(1): 1–7.
46.
ZhaiJiexia ElisaEllisonChristopher G.GlennNorval D.MarquardtElizabeth. 2007. “Parental Divorce and Religious Involvement among Young Adults.”Sociology of Religion68(2):125–44. doi:10.1093/socrel/68.2.125.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
