Religiosity and cultural consumption

This article empirically investigates the impact of religiosity on cultural consumption. To this end we extend the standard model of cultural participation by hypothesizing that religious beliefs and religiosity shape preferences. In so doing, we identify two latent traits through which religiosity affects cultural consumption. First, a general religiosity factor which stands out for the functional aspects of religion, through which individuals build and enhance social relations and the belonging to a specific group. Second, an attribute linked to the intensity of beliefs and which manifests itself on an individual's degree of attachment to religion. Using U.S. data, the estimation of a simultaneous equations model shows that while the former increases the likelihood of participation in highbrow cultural manifestations, the latter decreases it. Additionally, we find evidence of religiosity marginally affecting popular forms of cultural consumption.