Conversion to Islam: Its Motives and Consequences Through the Looking Glass of Social and Psychological Research
https://doi.org/10.31162/2618-9569-2018-11-2-375-385
Abstract
The article comprises results of a social and psychological study. This study had its aim to research the motives, which people use to embrace Islam as a new religion and the problems, which arise when an individual acquires a new religious identity. For this study the author has developed a special questionnaire and has conducted more than 2000 hours of interviews with the converts. Its result offers a list of motives often brought forward to explain the conversion. Among them there are spiritual search, the search for the meaningful life, an individual and his/her purpose, need for clear doctrine with understandable values. The author argues that there is still a necessity to psychologically help the new converts to adapt themselves to the newly acquired religious and existential identity.
About the Author
Anastasia V. Korchagina
Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
MA (Moscow State University of Psychology and Education), «Ecology of Relations and Achievements» Personality Development Project Manager
References
1. Shorokhova V.A. Religious Identity in Foreign Psychological Studies: Theoretical Models and Research Methods. Sotsialnaia psikhologiia i obshchestvo = Social Psychology and Society. 2014;5(4):44–61. (In Russ.)
2. Fowler J. W. Stages of Faith: The psychology of human development and the quest for meaning. San Francisco: Harper & Row; 1981.
3. Erikson E. Identity youth and crisis. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.; 1968.
4. Kohlberg L. Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization. In: Goslin D. A. (ed.). Handbook of socialization theory. Chicago: Rand McNally; 1969:347–480.
5. Piaget J. Six psychological studies. New York: Random House; 1967.
6. Garipov Ya. Z., Nurullina R. V. Young people in Islam. A process of integration into the social life. Case study: schools and educational institutions in Republic of Tatarstan. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskie i sotsial’nye peremeny = Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes. 2009;(4):203–229. (In Russ.)
7. Ipatova L. P. Ways of conversion into the Orthodox Creed in Modern Russia. PhD (Soc.) Thesis. Moscow; 2006. (In Russ.)
8. Envei K. L. Those who have chosen a different way. Moscow: Sandra; 2014. (In Russ.)
9. Isaeva V. B. Society and the mechanism of religious conversion. Case study: The St Petersburg Buddhist Community Karma Kaghyu. St. Petersburg; 2015. (In Russ.)
10. Pavlova O. S. Religious and Ethnic Identity of the South-West and South-East Caucasus’ Muslims: the Substance and Ratio Specifics. Islam in the modern world. 2015;11(2):75–86. DOI: 10.20536/2074-1529-2015-11-2-75-86. (In Russ.)
11. Perepelkin L. Islam and self-identification in the Modern World. Islam in the modern world. 2010;(3–4):60–67. (In Russ.) Режим доступа: http://www.idmedina.ru/books/islamic/?2133. [Дата обращения: 12.07.2018].
12. Sedankina T. E. Religious sociology seen from the point of Islamic Creed. Kazan: Kazan Federal University; 2016. (In Russ.)
13. Sokolovskaya I. E. Social Psychology of the religious self-identification among the younger generation in contemporary Russia. Moscow; 2015. (In Russ.)
Review
For citations:
Korchagina A.V. Conversion to Islam: Its Motives and Consequences Through the Looking Glass of Social and Psychological Research. Minbar. Islamic Studies. 2018;11(2):375-385. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31162/2618-9569-2018-11-2-375-385
Views:
1175
Email this article 