ABSTRACT
This study examined the Relationship between Socio-Economic Status and Dimensions of Religiosity among Students of Tertiary Institutions in Lagos State. In this study, relevant and extensive literatures were reviewed in sub-titles. The literature surveyed and explored the works of scholars, researchers and religionists that are in line with the topic of this research. The descriptive research survey was adopted in this study in order to assess the opinions of the selected respondents, with the application of the research questionnaires which were used to collect necessary information from the samples, and the sampling technique was applied in order to select the appropriate samples of this study. Three hundred (300) respondents, made up of 150 males and 150 females were selected from University of Lagos and Lagos State University. Also, 4 null hypotheses were generated and tested accordingly, with the application of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in testing hypothesis one, while the independent t-test statistical tool, was used in testing hypothesis two, three and four respectively, at the alpha level of 0.05. At the end of the data analyses, the results that were obtained, showed that:
(1) Hypothesis one found that there is a significant relationship between socio-economic status of students and their commitment to religion (P
(2) Hypothesis two revealed that there is a significant impact of religiousity on student socio-economic status (P
(3) Hypothesis three indicated that there is a significant difference between the religious commitment of students from the high socio-economic status homes and those from the low socio-economic status homes (P
(4) Hypothesis four showed that there is no significant gender difference in the religious commitment of students due to socio-economic status (P > 0.05; df = 298; t-cal = 0.71; t-tab = 1.96).
(1) Based on the above findings, the following recommendations were made: It is recommended that parents should endeavour to bring up their children in Christian religious way, because, when parents train their children well, they (children), would be able to imbibe the good religious culture which their parents have bequeathed to them. This is because, it has been found that the genesis of students’ non-religious commitment at adolescent age, is because, parents did not teach their children the ways of God at the early stage. So, parents should teach their children how to commit themselves to the things of God when they are very young and they would not depart from it even when they grow up. It is also recommended that religious studies should be made a compulsory course in all the tertiary institutions. Whether a student is arts inclined or science-inclined, he/she should be made to offer religion as a compulsory course. The course should be named “religious and moral instruction”, which should be aimed at imbibing and inculcating religious ethos in the life of the students. If this is done, it will help in curbing immoral and delinquent behaviours that are inherent in most of our youths of school-ages in Nigeria. It is equally recommended that lecturers in the institutions under review, should ensure that they exhibit characters and moral rectitude worthy of emulation by their students on campus. This is because teachers are surrogate parents of children, as well as great models for students.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Social inequality is a fundamental characteristic of the society. Rich or poor; advantaged or disadvantaged; privileged or underpreviledged: each contrast speaks to differences among people that are consequential for the lives they lead. Whether in describing patterns of inequality or examining the consequences of inequality, the results depend upon how inequality is conceptualized and measured. Socio-economic status is among the most prominent concepts in inequality research. The term “socioeconomic status” refers to the relative hierarchical placement of a unit (such as an individual, a community) along a gradient stratified by social and economic resources (Adler, 2003).
The sociologist, Marx Weber (1958,) conceptualized inequality along three related tracks – class, status and party. Each was understood as a basis for power and influence. Whereas, class focused on economic resources, and party referred to political clout, status was understood as honour and prestige. For Weber, status groups were hierarchically arrayed on the basis of distinctive lifestyles, consumption patterns and modes of conduct or action.
Religion is defined by Kenny (2004) as “belief in the existence of a supernatural ruling power, the creator and controller of the universe, who has given to man a spiritual nature which continues to exist after the death of the body”. On the other hand, Arnolds and Adams (2000) have defined religion giving their backgrounds and sources of information. These varied views on religion maintain a Constance; that religion, is the belief in spiritual beings. The term ‘religion’, whatever its definition, refers to certain characteristic types of data namely: beliefs, practices, feelings, moods and attitudes (Nyoyoko and Owete, 2000).
Friedrick (2000), defined religion as “feeling of absolute dependence, absolute as contrasted to other relative feelings of dependence”. Religion can also be defined as human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual or divine. Religion is commonly regarded as consisting of a person’s relation to God or to gods or spirits.
In a given society, religion as a social institution, plays a prominent role in the lives of individuals or faithfuls. Also, in every religion, be it Christianity, Islam or African religion, individuals are stratified into high or low socioeconomic status. Individuals are placed according to their socioeconomic class in any society. Religion as an integral part of the society, is always in contact with the society, and always in contact with these socioeconomic classes (Nzeribe, 2003).
The religious commitment of students who fall within the three socioeconomic status of high, middle and low will be examined in this study in relation to or as an influence on dimensions of religious commitment of students in tertiary institutions.
1.2 Background to Study
Socioeconomic implies at least two dimensions to inequality – social and economic. Although, those two dimensions are understood as closely associated they nevertheless, incorporate two different aspects of stratification. The economic dimension is best represented by money or wealth as reflected in employment, income, home ownership, and other financial assets such as pension plans and property ownership. The social dimension incorporates education, occupational prestige, authority, and community standing (Blau, 1991). The very earliest measures of socio-economic status is relied on community reputation. A family’s social standing as judged by others was used to differentiate between upper, middle and lower classes. Although, the term ‘class’ was used, this was the usage that understood classes as loose aggregates of families who shared similar social and economic traits. However, this early measurement tradition rested mainly in community studies. As social scientists started to focus more on entire societies, a different measurement technique was essential (Kings, 1994).
Socio-economic status has been shown to be significantly, consistently and universally correlated with a variety of measures of life chances (such as occupational attainment) and life styles (ideological learnings, and mode of memberships). Similarly, education is an important socio-economic status (SES) measure; again correlated with many diverse outcomes, but its precise role is often unclear – is it the cognitive dimension, the credential or the network of contacts dimension? (Allen, 1999).