Habits of the hearth: Parenting, religion, and the good life in America
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
Kevin Matthew Taylor
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Ammerman, Nancy T.
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Boston University
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2015
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
502
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
Committee members: Edgell, Penny; Lobel, Diana; Petro, Anthony; Prothero, Stephen
NOTES PERTAINING TO PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Text of Note
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-92932-4
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Discipline of degree
Religious Studies GRS
Body granting the degree
Boston University
Text preceding or following the note
2015
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
This dissertation explores visions of the good life in America through the lens of what middle-class parents from Liberal Protestant, Evangelical Protestant, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, and Atheist communities want for their children. In the book Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah and associates famously posit that the dominant moral language of America today is one of utilitarian and expressive individualism. In this dissertation, I measure the degree to which parents in America are guided by that individualism and the degree to which they speak alternative languages that encourage concern for others and for the common good. Through participant observation, interviews, and a letter-writing task with eighty-three New England parents connected with particular congregations, as well as twelve comparable non-attending parents, I look at religious traditions, some of them with long histories in America, and others more recently prominent on the religious landscape, to see how religion shapes parental values. To what extent do parents from these traditions agree on what a good life looks like? And to what extent do we find divergence based on social location, ethnic background, and the beliefs and practices of their traditions?
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Religion; Sociology; Individual & family studies
UNCONTROLLED SUBJECT TERMS
Subject Term
Philosophy, religion and theology;Social sciences;Ethics;Family values;Moral philosophy;Parenting;Religious diversity