Although the social sciences have studied the influence of social environment on individual behaviors regarding medication, very little research has been done on the variations that exist between patients in equivalent social contexts but with diverse religious backgrounds. This article presents the results of research on the correlation between patients' religious-cultural background (Catholic...

We develop a cultural evolutionary theory of the origins of prosocial religions and apply it to resolve two puzzles in human psychology and cultural history: (1) the rise of large-scale cooperation among strangers and, simultaneously, (2) the spread of prosocial religions in the last 10-12 millennia. We argue that these two developments were importantly linked and mutually energizing. We explai...

Infertility is a condition loaded with meaning spanning across biomedical, psychological, social, economic, cultural and religious spheres. Given its disruptive power over women's lives, it provides a unique lens through which issues of kinship, gender, sexuality, cosmology and religion can be examined. The paper presents the results of an ethnographic study of infertility in Central Nigeria. E...

the article provides a critical assessment of the more recent literature that relies on theoretical frameworks such as post modernism and globalization to deal with national identity, ethnicity and cultural mobility. explaining sensitive and complicated issues such as identity requires the extensive use of the native historical, cultural and sociological sources related to the iranian experienc...

Why do religious minorities respond in different ways to economic development? We develop a model of religious organizations based on a historical case study of Jewish emancipation in nineteenth century Europe. In Germany, a liberal Reform movement developed in response to emancipation, while ultra-Orthodox Judaism emerged in eastern Europe. Our explanation for this polarization contributes to ...

The British Bangladeshi community is one of the youngest and fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the UK. Many report poor socio-economic and health profiles with the existence of substantial health inequalities, particularly in relation to type 2 diabetes. Although there is compelling evidence for the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions in the prevention of type 2 diabetes, there is ...

Although most people are religious, there are hundreds of millions of religious disbelievers in the world. What is religious disbelief and how does it arise? Recent developments in the scientific study of religious beliefs and behaviors point to the conclusion that religious disbelief arises from multiple interacting pathways, traceable to cognitive, motivational, and cultural learning mechanis...