The viewpoint of four sociologists on Jehovah's Witnesses

May 13, 2010 - PRLog -- Three pages are here released on the subject of Jehovah's Witnesses from the perspective of sociologists and religious scholars.

Bryan Wilson, Ph.D., Reader Emeritus in Sociology at the University of Oxford and President of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion  1971-75; Rodney Stark, Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion at the University of Washington,  with Laurence R. Iannaccone, Professor of Economics at Santa Clara University; and Steve Worden, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas, give facts and opinions on the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Jehovah's Witnesses - Sociology
http://jehovahs-witnesses-headlines.net/sociologyreport.aspx


Bryan Wilson is described as  "a scholar of indubitable integrity.  His lectures and writings, full of nuances and subtleties, are models of clarity and elegance," says one source.

Rodney Stark is a sociologist, and is described as "an independent Christian" and conducts a sociological analysis of Witnesses as to the reasons for their steady growth, as well as what the future holds in the growth of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Steve Worden speaks about the "social margin" he attributes to Jehovah's Witnesses, in that the Witnesses, while their door to door ministry might be inconvenient for most for those whose doors they knock on, on  Sunday afternoons,  deserve a certain amount of respect or tolerance because of what they have endured in the way of persecutions, specifically in the Nazi eras, when most Catholics and Protestants compromised with Hitler and the Third Reich.

These three articles give different perspectives on Jehovah's Witnesses, and Rodney Stark and Laurence Iannaccone also discuss the thought of the economics and demography of Jehovah's Witnesses, the percentage of Jehovah's Witnesses who graduate college, lower than average, and yet the economic situation of the individual Jehovah's Witnesses does not seem to be adversely affected. Additionally, the percentage of Jehovah's Witnesses who own their own home is above the national average, an these sociologists attribute a certain amount of economic advantage for the individual Jehovah's Witness rather than otherwise.

It is hoped that these articles help the reader to understand more clearly some details about the religion that can be of value in understanding the social position and implications in the lives of individual Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as gaining a historical perspective of the religion.

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