External threat drives groups to ritualize preferences into sacred values

Evidence

Why might a group of people transform a secular preference into a sacred value? One idea is that they might do so when a particular preference becomes threatened by other groups (Atran & Axelrod, 2008). Two related processes might lead people who perceive threat to their group to be more likely to think of group preferences as sacred values. Firstly, intergroup disputes that threaten a preference may lead the threatened group to incorporate that preference within religious ritual, thus transforming it into a sacred value. … Second, evidence suggests that people may engage in ritual more often and that rituals become more costly, as perceived threat to the group increases. … Indeed, a survey of societies in the Human Relations Area Files reveals that intense group competition and conflict are associated with costlier rituals (Sosis, Kress & Boster, 2007), and evidence suggests that a belief in moralizing gods is greater for groups experiencing significant resource threats (Norenzayan & Shariff, 2008; Atran & Henrich, 2010). — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 14

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the ‘iron band forming under fear’ thesis from the Sacrifice article — this is the empirical mechanism by which threat manufactures the sacred, complementing that essay’s treatment of sacrifice as solidarity technology.
• DEEPTHINKING: This reverses the common causal arrow — sacred values are usually treated as prior causes of conflict, but here conflict is presented as the cause of sacred values. The circularity (threat builds the sacred, sacred blocks resolution) is dense enough to sit with.
• QUESTION: The passage posits threat causes sacralization, but the reader’s core question — what happens when the threat disappears — is left open. Worth chasing whether the sacred value decays or persists after threat removal.
• XREF: connects to: Participation in religious ritual and perceived group threat jointly make people sacralize preferences. — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 3; Sacred values can form quickly through ritual and perceived group threat. — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 8; Ritual participation plus perceived threat converts disputed preferences into sacred values. — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 58 (+8 more)

Related

• Perceived out-group threat amplifies ritual-driven sacralization of values. (similarity 0.94)
• Participation in religious ritual and perceived group threat jointly make people sacralize preferences. (similarity 0.93)
• Ritual participation plus perceived threat converts disputed preferences into sacred values. (similarity 0.92)
• Participation in religious ritual creates sacred values, especially under group threat. (similarity 0.92)
• Sacred values can form quickly through ritual and perceived group threat. (similarity 0.92)
• Religious ritual participation increases sacred values even on non-religious topics. (similarity 0.87)
• Participation in religious ritual, not broader psychological traits, predicts sacred values. (similarity 0.84)
• Merely reminding people of religious ritual raises how many sacred values they claim. (similarity 0.83)
• Sacred-value commitment produces costly sacrifice that lets weak groups beat stronger foes. (similarity 0.82)
• Sacralized values resist material incentives and cause offer-driven concessions to backfire (similarity 0.82)
• Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran — Religion, group threat and sacred values (similarity 0.82)
• Sacred values bind group identity and give groups advantage through non-rational commitment. (similarity 0.81)
• Merely reminding Muslims of their religiosity increases how many values they call sacred (similarity 0.80)
• Groups may posture sacred claims that are not deeply held identity commitments (similarity 0.80)
• Elites can sway people by reframing sacred values as secular tradeoffs. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Ritual participation plus perceived threat converts disputed preferences into sacred values. #corroborates (0.92) — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 58
• Perceived out-group threat amplifies ritual-driven sacralization of values. #expands (0.90) — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 45
• Participation in religious ritual creates sacred values, especially under group threat. #expands (0.88) — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 16
• Religious ritual converts secular values into sacred ones that harden conflict #expands (0.80)