{"id":175,"date":"2011-06-07T22:36:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-07T21:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2011\/06\/religion-as-a-tool-for-social-control.html"},"modified":"2014-11-12T04:08:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T03:08:06","slug":"religion-as-tool-for-social-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2011\/06\/religion-as-tool-for-social-control.html","title":{"rendered":"Religion as a tool for social control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

According to a new study just published in Science<\/i><\/a>, societies can be spread along a spectrum of how tight their social control is:<\/p>\n

\u2026 tight nations are more likely to have autocratic governing systems that suppress dissent, to have media institutions (broadcast, paper, Internet) with restricted content and more laws and controls, and to have criminal justice systems with higher monitoring, more severe punishment (e.g., the death penalty), and greater deterrence and control of crime.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A team lead by psychologist Michele Gelfand (University of Maryland) surveyed people from 30 countries to assess how tight each country was. They were asked to rate statements like:<\/p>\n