Religious Social Distance: A

Comparison of Georgian, German

and Japanese Students
Nino Javakhishvili
Johann Schneider
Ana Makashvili
Natia Kochlashvili

Ilia State University (Tbilisi, Georgia)

Saarland University (Saarbrücken, Germany)
2012-2013
What is Social Distance?

 Emory Bogardus: “the degree of sympathetic

understanding that exists between two persons
or between a person and a group” (1933).

 Robert Park: concept of social distance, is “to

reduce to something like measurable terms the
grades and degrees of understanding and
intimacy which characterize personal and social
relations generally” (1924).
 “Measurable terms” were elaborated by
Emory Bogardus in 1924

Instrument:

The Social Distance Scale

 consists of 7 items designating various social distances.

 Items start from the shortest social distance, followed
by other social distances gradually increasing in length.
 Just to give an example:
(Respondent is asked to place a check-mark against all
statements with which they agree):
e.g. I would make Georgians…
1. As close relatives by marriage (1.00)
2. As my close personal friends (2.00)
3. As neighbors on the same street (3.00)
4. As co-workers in the same occupation (4.00)
5. As citizens in my country (5.00)
6. As only visitors in my country (6.00)
7. Would exclude from my country (7.00)

*Thus, low score indicates low social distance, high score

indicates high social distance.
 Why Study Religious Social Distance in
Georgia?
Situation Today

 Prejudiced rhetoric and even discrimination towards

religious minorities have been activated during the
recent years.
 For example, the Orthodox population of one of the
rural regions of Georgia had recently been impeding
local Muslim residents from their religious service
(Tabula, 29.10.2012).
 Media studies show hate speech usage to ethnic
minorities, especially in 3 nationwide newspapers
(media monitoring results, 2011, 2012).
 European Commission has appealed to Georgia twice
against racism and intolerance with recommendation of
criminalizing hate speech.
 General Overview of Religions in
Georgia
Religions %
Orthodox Christians 83.9%

Muslims 9.9%
Apostolic Armenians 3.9%
Catholics 0.8%
Judaists 0.1%
Other 0.8%
Non-believers 0.6%
 General Overview of Religions in
Germany

Religions %
Protestants 34%

Catholics 34%

Muslims 3.7%

Non-believers/Other 28.3%
 General Overview of Religions in
Japan
Religions %

Shinto 51%

Buddhists 44%

Christians 1%

Other denominations 4%
 Research Questions

o What are the distances of

Georgian, German and Japanese
students to various religions?
o And how can these distances be
compared and be explained?
 Georgian Sample
BA students from the University
N = 91
Male – 45.7%
Female – 55.3%

Orthodox Christians – 85.7%

Others – 14.3%

 Religious – 83%
Non-religious – 9%
 German Sample
BA students from the University
N =114
Male – 31%
Female – 69%

Catholics – 25%
Protestants – 21%
Non-believers – 48%
 Japanese Sample
BA students from the University
N = 98
Male – 61%
Female – 39%

Buddhists – 4%
Shinto – 4%

Non-religious – 66%
Religious Groups to
Assess

Buddhists
Catholics
 Muslims
 Protestants
Shinto (*not in the case of
Georgian sample)
 Results
Minimal and Maximal Scores
Georgian sample appear to be the most distanced,
followed by Japanese and German students.

Minimal Score Maximal Score Difference

between
Minimal and
Maximal Scores
German Sample 1.22 2.79 1.57

Japanese Sample 2.45 3.20 0.75

Georgian Sample 2.74 4.18 1.44

 Results
Mean Distance Scores to various Religions
Muslims are held at the farthest distance for all
three sample
German Rank Japanese Rank Georgian Rank
Sample Order Sample Order Sample Order
(Mean) (Mean) (Mean)
Protestants 1.22 1 2.76 4 3.80 2

Shinto 2.18 4 2.74 3 ____ ____

Catholics 1.35 2 2.70 2 2.74 1

Buddhists 1.91 3 2.45 1 3.94 3

Muslims 2.79 5 3.20 5 4.18 4

Why are Georgians the most distanced
among the three sample?

Social Distance – a Component of Prejudice

• Social distance is regarded as one of the components
of prejudice.
• Research community in social sciences shares the
statement that people hold prejudices toward
representatives of other groups, be these ethnic,
religious, sexual, racial and others.
• Reasons of prejudice may vary, beginning from the
socio-economic conditions (the lower the employment
rate in a country, the higher economic competition and
thus, levels of prejudice) to personal traits (such as
authoritarianism, emotional insecurity).
Religiosity as one of the Reasons of
Prejudiced Attitudes
As Scheepers, Gijsberts and Hello found out in
their study on European countries (Religiosity and
Prejudice against Ethnic Minorities in Europe:
Cross-National Tests on a Controversial
Relationship, 2002),

“Catholics and Protestants support prejudice

against ethnic minorities more than non-religious
people. It turns out that the more frequently people
attend church, the more they are prejudiced”.
The Factor of Religion in Georgian’s day-to-day Lives

How Important is religion in your daily life? (%) CB, 2010

 Data from other sources

The influential role of religion in Georgians ’ everyday lives is

supported by the study carried out in 2011 on the sample consisting
of 1058 respondents (Sumbadze N.: Generations and Values, 2012):

 The majority of respondents (56.3%) thinks there is only one

veritable religion and that is the Orthodox Church.
The majority of respondents (56.3%) believes in the existence of the
only one true religion, i.e., the Orthodox Christianity.
Only 23.7% of population think that other religions in Georgia should
enjoy the same rights as Orthodox church.
The majority of respondents (65.9%) identify themselves more with a
“Veritable Christian” rather than with a “citizen of Georgia” (34.1%).
 Age in Combination with Religion
(Overview)

• Soviet regime (Georgia being one of the USSR’s countries)

was accompanied by the elimination of religion.
• Religious sentiments of Georgians started flourishing after
the fall of the Soviet Union.
Age in Combination with Religion
(Overview)

 That was exactly in 1990’s of the 20th century that

saw the strengthening of Orthodox institutes,
building of lots of new, architecturally quite
unflattering churches and introducing the
religious education in public schools.
 Thus, it might not be surprising that “the vast
majority of religiously active population are young
people, living in the capital city, with higher
education, who spent their childhood in 1990’s –
in the most harsh (insecure) political and
economic situation” (Kekelia, Gavashelishvili,
Ladaria, Sulkhanishvili, 2013).
Caucasus Barometer, 2010
 Socio-economic Conditions as one
of the reasons of Prejudice
Today, Georgia is still in the process
of formation as a state nation and
democracy, and the remaining
problems with its sovereignty
continue to threaten its identity and
socio-economic stability (1/3 of
Georgian territories is occupied by
Russia; unemployment rate around
16%), as compared to the socially
more stable, democratic and secure
environment of Germany
(unemployment rate around 7%, no
threats to international security) and
Japan (unemployment rate around
5%, no threats to international
security).
Specific Social Distances to
Religious Groups
Not surprisingly:
 Georgians place the
representatives of Christian religion
at close distances;
Germans place Protestants and
Catholics nearer;
While Japanese place Buddhists
and Catholics at the closest,
keeping Shinto a bit far than the
former.
Worldly Events Shaping
the Social Distances

 Several authors (e.g.: Bogardus, 1946, 1956,1968;

Basabe, 1966) emphasize the role of historical
events in determining the social distance scores,
which could be the case why Muslims are kept at
the farthest distances for all three samples:
 The stereotypical 9/11 image works as a shortcut
for respondents whilst assessing this religious
group.
In addition,
 In case of Georgian and Japanese
samples, we found high positive
significant correlations between gender
and social distance to Muslims.
 Moreover, female students tend to
be more distanced towards Muslims
than males.
 Gender and Distance toward
Muslims
the participants of focus groups emphasize the situation of
women in Muslim culture. Whether their ideas are based
upon stereotypes or on real facts, their attitudes are
strongly determined by this circumstance:

“Women are oppressed there.”

“Their traditions allow them to discriminate against women.

I’ve seen a movie based on real life stories where they hit
women with stones.”

“They discriminate against women, and I can’t tolerate that.

Women have to wear headscarves and that is quite
unfamiliar for me…”
Conclusion

The above discussed, as well as the general

findings of this study, can be summarized in
Bogardus’ words that serve as an interpretation
to his own findings:

“A people feels nearer to another people of

similar culture patterns and backgrounds than
to the other peoples unless serious competition
of some kind occurs between them” (Bogardus,
1958, p. 134).
Thank You for Your Attention
 References
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