School of Law and Social Sciences

How do experiences of religious diversity shape worldviews?

Sociological and critical psychological theorists such as Peter Berger and Kenneth Gergen have argued that living in a diverse society fundamentally alters our understanding of the world—dismantling taken-for-granted truths and prompting a more questioning and contingent worldview.

Award

MRes | MPhil | PhD | MSc by Research

Start Date

Usually February and October - at individual School's discretion

Research Opportunities

Summary

Fundamentally, this project is about how people construct knowledge in diverse societies. Focusing on religious diversity, this project will explore whether, when and how people change their worldviews as a result of encounters with differing religious and nonreligious beliefs and practices. It will build on Berger’s and Gergen’s theorising and on existing research by the Principal Supervisor, available online:

Woods & Fernández, 2023

Encounters with other religious and nonreligious worldviews take place in a wide variety of contexts, including close family, relationships, school settings, travel and online. The project could focus on one of these (e.g. online encounters; knowledge construction of children growing up in mixed religion households) or consider contexts more broadly. It is envisaged that the student would use qualitative (e.g. ethnography, semi-structured interviews) or mixed-method (rather than purely quantitative) approaches to ensure that participants’ meaning-making processes are captured.