Does Danger Make People Religious?

This chapter takes an interesting proposition—that danger makes people particularly receptive to religion—and uses the examples of the supposed piety of miners and fishermen to explore three very different sorts of social explanation. It could indeed be the case that unpredictably dangerous work disposes people to consider their mortality or to find supernatural ways of dampening anxiety. Or it could be that the unusual social structure of fishing villages and mining communities (generally isolated and introverted) insulates religious traditions from secularizing forces. Or it could be that the piety of these communities is a social myth based on the romantic assumption that those who work close to the elements should be more open to the supernatural than is the cosseted urban office worker. As well as addressing the substantive proposition, it considers practical problems of measuring piety.