Halloween Activities

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Clive D. Field

With exactly one week to go to Halloween (All Hallows’ Eve), one-third of Britons may be planning to observe the day in some way, according to a new poll. TNS interviewed 1,030 British adults aged 16-64 online on 27-29 September 2011 about their expected activities during the month of October. Results are available at:

http://www.tns-ri.co.uk/_assets/files/OLB_222550WK39_October_activity.pdf

From a checklist, 32% of respondents said that they were planning to buy food and drink for Halloween and 32% other items for the day, such as sweets and decorations. Anticipated observance rose to one-half for those who were parents of children living in the household, falling to one-quarter for those without resident children.

More generally, two-fifths of younger people (aged 16-44) intended to make Halloween-related purchases. There was a sharp falling-off among the older age groups, with only 13% of the 55-64s expecting to buy food and drink and 19% other Halloween products. There were no great differences by social grade, but there were regional variations, with two-fifths of Scots planning Halloween purchases against one-quarter of Londoners.

Far fewer of the sample, 12%, thought they might go trick or treating. The proportion rose to 29% for parents of children in the household, compared to 5% who had no children at home. It was somewhat under one-fifth for those aged 16-44 but a mere 2% for the 55-64s. At 9%, the number was lower in the Midlands than in the rest of Britain (13%).

These percentages derive from a survey conducted one month before the event, and it remains to be seen whether expectations will be translated into actions. If they are, however, it looks as though Halloween’s penetration of British society (from Ireland and America) may be steadily increasing.

Our two posts of 1 and 31 October 2010 give some indication of the findings of previous polls and of the economic value of the Halloween retail market. See:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=629

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=686

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Should Ethics be Taught?

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Clive D. Field

While church connection helps to promote moral and ethical behaviour and worldviews among young people, religious schools do not have a consistently positive impact in that regard.

This is the inference which can be drawn from the charts and summaries contained in a somewhat skeletal report entitled Should Ethics be Taught? Published a few months back, it is available to download at:

http://www.moneyandmorals.org/resources/userfiles/Jabe%20MM%20Survey%20Web%202011%20-%20Printed%20version.pdf

Commissioned by the Money & Morals secondary school programme, a project of the Jewish Association for Business Ethics, the underlying data in the report derive from questionnaires completed by 10,000 year 9 and 10 pupils (aged 13 to 15) at schools in England and Wales in 2008-10. They were compiled by Jemma Penny, of the St Mary’s Centre in Wales, in association with Professor Leslie Francis of the University of Warwick.

Churchgoing students were found to be less likely to condone cheating in examinations, fare-dodging on public transport and shoplifting than their non-worshipping counterparts. However, pupils at religious schools were actually more tolerant of all three moral failings than those at county schools. 

Churchgoing students also tended to be more positive about their future life in the workplace than non-church-attenders. But differences between pupils at religious and county schools on these questions were less conclusive, albeit the former were 3% more optimistic about the contribution which they could make to the world than the former (69% versus 66%).

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Spirituality in the Ascendant?

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Spirituality and mystical beliefs are taking over from religion in Britain, according to the spin being put on the results of a new poll. It was commissioned to support a major marketing and publicity campaign launched by HarperCollins on 17 October 2011 for Paulo Coelho’s new novel, Aleph, a story of spiritual renewal and growth in the face of a grave personal crisis of faith.

As is often the case with such marketing-led surveys, it is exceedingly difficult to track down details of methodology and results, and the following blog, posted mainly ‘for the record’, has mostly been pieced together from second-hand reports in the Daily Express and Daily Telegraph. It would appear that 2,000 adult Britons were quizzed online.

Exactly one-quarter of interviewees described themselves as religious and almost the same number as spiritual, with avowed atheists at 17%. Other responses are not available, nor were any comparative data given, so the headline spin cannot be evidenced. There were certainly 10% fewer professed ‘spirituals’ in this survey than in a recent YouGov poll featured by BRIN at: http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1437

When asked ‘What do you believe happens when we die?’ one-half the sample said that we go on to another existence, much the same proportion as in a Populus study for The Sun in 2005. This total included 20% who mentioned heaven or hell, 18% reunification with loved ones, 11% reincarnation, and 5% reappearance as ghosts. But 37% thought that we simply rest in peace or there would be nothing after death.

36% subscribed to Karma, the idea that bad behaviour in this life may result in a less favourable afterlife. The figure was similar to the 32% obtained by Populus six years ago.

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National Jewish Student Survey, 2011

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Clive D. Field

‘Jewish students are comfortable being openly Jewish at British universities, despite having concerns about attitudes to Israel on campus. Their commitment to Israel and the Jewish people is robust, but their appreciation of their personal social responsibility lacks muscle.’

These are some of the headlines from the first National Jewish Student Survey (NJSS), overseen by JPR, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, and published on 4 October 2011. Written by David Graham and Jonathan Boyd, Home and Away: Jewish Journeys towards Independence – Key Findings from the 2011 National Jewish Student Survey can be downloaded from:

http://www.jpr.org.uk/downloads/NJSS_report%20final.pdf

The research was commissioned by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) in partnership with the Pears Foundation. It was funded by the Pears Foundation, with additional support from UJIA, Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe and the Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation.

Quantitative fieldwork (there was also a qualitative phase, of focus groups) was carried out online by Ipsos MORI between 15 February and 15 March 2011. There were 925 valid responses from Jewish students, covering 95 different institutions, which IPR estimates to equate to from 11% to 14% of the total UK Jewish student population. In addition, there were 761 valid responses to a parallel general student survey, run for benchmarking purposes.

Since Jewish students comprise just 0.5% of all full-time higher education students in the UK, they are not easy to reach through normal random or quota sampling methods. Instead, IPR contacted them via the UJS database, a network of 17 Jewish student nodes, and a modest advertising campaign. Three-fifths of responses eventually derived through UJS as a contact source.

IPR is sensitive to the potential weaknesses of this methodology, which are explored in a section of the report (pp. 65-7) on ‘how representative is the NJSS sample?’ The main conclusions are that, while the sample was reasonably balanced in terms of Jewish denominational backgrounds, it was skewed towards students who were more Jewishly engaged.

With this caveat, we may note some of the key statistics from the study:

  • Half of Jewish students attended just eight out of 113 higher education institutions (Universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Kings College London, and University College London), against 9% of the national student body 
  • When choosing a university, 45% did so primarily for the course, 23% for the institution’s reputation, 11% for its league table performance, and 10% for its Jewish population size 
  • The most popular courses followed by Jewish students were medicine, politics, and business and finance, and they were three times less likely to be studying education than students in general 
  • Israel and Jewish Studies formed a component of their courses in relatively few instances (18% and 12% respectively), and this was mostly only a small part of the course 
  • 52% of Jewish students described themselves as religious and 41% as secular, with 53% connected to their home synagogue and 34% to the university Jewish chaplaincy 
  • When students were on campus, their levels of Jewish practice diminished compared to when they were at home, but socializing in Jewish circles substantially increased
  • 59% of Jewish students were always open about being Jewish on campus and 35% sometimes open, the remainder concealing their Jewish identity 
  • 31% reported that all or nearly all their closest friends were Jewish, and 29% that more than half were – this was particularly true of students assessing themselves as religious
  • 21% were concerned about anti-Semitism at their university and 42% reported having experienced or witnessed an anti-Semitic incident since the beginning of the academic year
  • 92% had visited Israel and 89% entertained positive feelings towards Israel (with 11% negative or ambivalent), in contrast to the general student population where 63% had no feelings either way about Israel 
  • 38% were concerned about anti-Israel sentiment on campus, the same number as felt that Israel was treated unfairly in their students’ union 
  • 85% agreed that being Jewish is about ‘strong moral and ethical behaviour’, but fewer (two-thirds) that it is about donating funds to charity, volunteering for a charity, or supporting social justice causes 
  • 72% agreed that it is important for a Jew to marry another Jew, although 50% of those who had been in a relationship had dated a non-Jewish partner 
  • 76% were worried about passing their exams, 68% about finding a job, 41% about living up to the expectations of their parents, and 39% about paying off financial debts 
  • Jewish students were more likely than students in general to have relationship issues, feelings of loneliness, and personal health concerns

For BRIN’s coverage of the launch of the NJSS last February, see:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=900

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Psychics

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The age of reason has not yet fully dawned, apparently. Almost one-quarter of British adults claim to have consulted a psychic or medium, even though many fewer (one in seven) believe that these intermediaries have a real ability to predict the future and/or talk to the dead.

This is according to a YouGov survey published on 5 October. Fieldwork was conducted online among a representative sample of 2,500 Britons aged 18 and over on 25-26 September 2011. The data tables are available at:

http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-archives-psychics-051011.pdf

Asked whether they had ever consulted a psychic or medium, 75% said no and 23% yes. Of the latter, 11% had done so only for fun and 12% with serious intent. Women (32%) were far more likely to have visited a psychic than men (12%). The 18-24s also recorded a low figure (13%).

The overall proportion who had consulted a psychic or medium was consistent with previous YouGov polls in October 2004 (24%) and October 2007 (25%) and with the Hereafter Report of January 2011 (22%), but it was larger than in a Populus survey of April 2005 (17%).

Of those who had consulted a psychic or medium, 57% felt the consultation had been truthful and 33% untruthful, with 9% uncertain. The perception of truthfulness increased with age, from 40% among the 18-24s to 62% with the over-60s. It was also higher among manual workers (63%) than non-manuals (52%) and comparatively low for Londoners and Scots (51%).

However, just 14% of the whole sample actually believed that psychics have a genuine ability to predict the future and/or talk to the dead, comprising 7% of men and 20% of women. 58% did not consider that psychics have such skills, of whom nearly three in five (34%) contended that they were deliberately deceiving the public.

Such deception has been in the news lately, with doubts raised about the genuineness of one of the country’s best-known psychics.

Finally, respondents were asked by YouGov to rate how spiritual they judged themselves. Three-fifths said that they were not spiritual, rising to 71% with men, 65% for 18-24s, and 64% for non-manual workers.

35% described themselves as spiritual, including 45% of women and 40% of the over-60s. This compares with 32% in last January’s Hereafter Report, which also gave religiosity as an alternative to spirituality, a choice not available in the current YouGov poll.

 

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Integrated Household Survey, 2010-11

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The Integrated Household Survey (IHS) is the biggest pool of UK social data after the decennial population census, so there will be special interest in the statistical bulletin containing headline results for the period April 2010 to March 2011, published by the Office for National Statistics on 28 September at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_227150.pdf

The question on religious affiliation (‘What is your religion, even if you are not currently practising?’) was answered by 413,832 individuals (including under-16s) in Great Britain. Different question-wording was used in Northern Ireland, and results from that province are not reported in the bulletin.

In Great Britain as a whole 23.2% professed no religion, with 68.5% being Christian, 4.4% Muslim, 1.3% Hindu, 0.7% Sikh, 0.4% Jewish, 0.4% Buddhist, and 1.1% subscribing to other religions.

The proportion with no religion was lowest in England (22.4%) and highest in Wales (30.6%), with 27.2% in Scotland. Scotland had the most Christians (69.6%) and Wales – historically synonymous with Nonconformity – the fewest (66.1%).

All the non-Christian faiths were relatively stronger in England than in the other two home nations, and this was particularly true of Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs. For example, Muslims represented 4.9% of people in England, 1.2% in Wales, and 1.3% in Scotland.

There was an above-average number of persons with no religion among all the under-50 age cohorts. This was notably so for the 16-24s (31.6%) and the 25-34s (32.5%). For the over-65s the figure was only 8.4%. It was also among the over-65s that the proportion of Christians peaked (87.6%).

By contrast, Muslims had a very youthful profile, accounting for 7.9% of all under-16s, 5.5% of 16-24s, and 6.4% of 25-34s. Even assuming standard rates of fertility, this concentration presages an above-the-norm growth in the Muslim population of Britain over the next decade.

The principal changes since the 2009-10 IHS have been an increase of 2.7% in the number professing no religion and a decrease of 2.9% for Christians. Muslims were up 0.2%. BRIN covered the 2009-10 data at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=603

As discussed in the present author’s forthcoming essay on ‘Repurposing Religious Surveys’, there are several ways of enquiring into religious affiliation, each producing different results.

This explains the big discrepancy in the size of the no religion category between the ‘What is your religion?’ formulation employed in the census and IHS and the British Social Attitudes (BSA) Surveys’ approach of ‘Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?’, the one assuming and the other ‘discouraging’ a faith identity.

In the latest BSA to be published, for 2009, and for the first time in the history of BSA back to 1983, a slim majority of respondents said they had no religion, as already noted by BRIN at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=891

Thus, the accuracy and meaning of the 2010-11 IHS statistics of religious affiliation are likely to be the subject of some debate. They seem bound to be deployed or controverted to support opposing views on the place of religion in modern society.

Already, in its article on the IHS, the Daily Mail has claimed it demonstrates ‘the nation remains overwhelmingly Christian … days after it emerged that BBC programme-makers have been put under pressure to stop describing dates as BC or AD.’ See:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2043045/Modern-Britain-70-claim-Christians-1-5-gay.html

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Perceived Threats to Christianity

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Forced to choose, churchgoing Christians in the UK are far more likely to think that secularism rather than Islam is the greater threat to Christianity, according to poll data made available to BRIN by ComRes but not yet posted on the company’s website.

Briefly noted in the Baptist Times and Church of England Newspaper of 12 August, the results derive from the Cpanel survey for Premier Christian Media undertaken by online interview between 6 and 18 July 2011 with 529 Christians aged 18 and over.

46% of respondents identified secularism as the greater threat to Christianity, 13% Islam, and 30% both equally, meaning that, in all, 76% had concerns about secularism and 43% about Islam.

A mere 10% of the sample thought that neither secularism nor Islam posed any threat to Christianity. This rose to 18% among the 18-34s and Baptists, dwindling to 4% for Roman Catholics and 3% for Pentecostals. However, unweighted cell sizes were small.

The number concerned about secularism alone declined with age, falling from 68% for churchgoers aged 18-34 to 45% among the over-65s. Denominationally, Roman Catholics (68%) showed most anxiety about secularism, partly following the Pope’s lead.

Women churchgoers (82%) were more preoccupied with secularism on its own or in combination with Islam than men (71%). In terms of churchmanship, catholics (87%) and low churchpeople (91%) recorded the highest figures on this aggregated measure.

The 18-34s were least worried about Islam alone (3%) or about Islam in parallel with secularism (14%). 55% of over-65s viewed Islam alone or Islam in conjunction with secularism as a threat, as did 73% of Pentecostals, 54% of Independents, and 50% of women.

Other data from the same Cpanel study which have entered the public domain, concerning campaigning issues for Christians, have already mostly been covered by BRIN at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=1375

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Sectarianism in Scotland

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Clive D. Field

The recent resurgence of sectarianism in Scottish football is overwhelmingly condemned by Scots, according to a poll commissioned by the Scottish Government, and published on 4 September to coincide with the commencement of Scottish parliamentary scrutiny of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

Fieldwork for the study was undertaken by TNS-BMRB between 27 July and 3 August 2011, by means of face-to-face interviews in the home with 1,028 Scots aged 16 and over. Data tables can be found at: 

http://www.tns-bmrb.co.uk/assets-uploaded/documents/sectarianism-poll-aug-11_1315215048.pdf

Roughly nine in ten Scots agreed with the four propositions in the survey: 89% that sectarianism is offensive; 89% that it is unacceptable in Scottish football; 91% that stronger action needs to be taken to tackle sectarianism and offensive behaviour associated with football in Scotland; and 85% that sectarianism is a criminal offence. Disagreement on each measure ranged from 3% to 5%, with the balance neutral.

Variations by demographic sub-groups were relatively limited, but there was a definite tendency for endorsement of the propositions to be lowest among those aged 16-24 years. In particular, only 75% of this cohort regarded sectarianism as a criminal offence and 78% as unacceptable in Scottish football. Likewise, agreement with the statements was below par among the DE social group (semi- and unskilled manual workers).

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Turkey and the European Union

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Clive D. Field

About one-quarter of Britons hold an unfavourable opinion of Turkey and consider that its membership of the European Union (EU) would be a bad thing, perceiving it as a predominantly Muslim country which would be out of place in the EU.

This is one of the findings from Transatlantic Trends, 2011, a partnership between the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di San Paolo, with support from four other sponsors, which reported on 14 September. Topline results can be found at:

http://www.gmfus.org/publications_/TT/TTS2011Toplines.pdf

Fieldwork was coordinated by TNS Opinion and took place in the United States and 13 European countries, including the UK. ICM interviewed 1,001 adults aged 18 and over by telephone here between 25 May and 19 June 2011.

In the UK 27% of citizens agreed that, as a mainly Muslim nation, Turkey did not belong in the EU. This was 2% more than in 2005 and the same as in the United States. But the figure was under the European average and notably lower than in Belgium (58%), Slovakia (48%) and Poland (46%), with the remaining European countries ranging from 31% to 38%. 65% of UK respondents disagreed with the proposition, the same as in 2005, with 8% undecided.

Overall British opposition to Turkey’s membership of the EU, in terms of it being regarded as a bad thing, has risen from 9% in 2004 but, at 27%, it remains less than the European average and is greatly exceeded by 45% in France and 40% in Germany. 25% in the UK pronounce it as a good thing, 41% are neutral, and 7% undecided.

Alternative trend data on attitudes to Turkey’s membership of the EU are available from the Eurobarometer studies. See our previous post at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=707

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