162 Darren Sherkat
religious activists have warned parents against the pitfalls of postsecondary education,
advocating Christian private schooling instead. Indeed, research has demonstrated that
conservative Christian parents dissuade their offspring (particularly those weak in faith)
from going to college (Sherkat and Darnell 1999). Young people who hold conservative
religious beliefs avoid college preparatory high school coursework and have lower lev-
els of postsecondary attainment net of the socioeconomic and ascriptive (gender, race,
region) factors that influence educational attainment (Darnell and Sherkat 1997).
The connection between education and religious preferences and choices is of con-
tinuing importance for sociologists of religion. The dramatic growth of private Protes-
tant schools and the increasing popularity of home schooling could have a tremendous
impact on the solidification of conservative religious preferences and commitment to
sectarian religious organizations. The recent push to provide tax credits and other state
support for these educational options will only bolster their growth. More globally,
there are similar developments in Islamic nations and in Hindu strongholds in India.
Religious institutions are recognizing and countering the impact of secular education
on future generations of devotees.
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
While most influential works in the sociology of religion focus on grand themes of
macrocultural transformation, the explanatory mechanism for religious dynamics is
inherently at the individual level. Religious change will only occur if large propor-
tions of individuals change their preferences for religious goods and alter their religious
choices. Ideologically structured action must be maintained through normal processes
of socialization and influence (Zald 2000), and to understand this we must focus on
family processes, denominational ties, friendship and kinship networks, and other in-
stitutional influences such as education. There are many things we have learned about
religious socialization. However, there are other important questions that have gone
unaddressed. First, we know that the family remains the primary influence on religious
preferences and choices. Families of origin instill preferences and channel commit-
ments, while families of procreation tend to reinforce preferences and choices. Religious
denominations have a consequential impact on the nature of religious preferences and
the dynamics of religious choices. While secular education undermines traditional re-
ligious faith, religious individuals and institutions counter this influence by removing
themselves from hostile academic climates and by generating religious alternatives to
secular education.
Unfortunately, we do not know enough about family dynamics and religious pref-
erences and choices. There are too few studies that examine families of origin over the
life course and include adequate measures of religious understandings and commit-
ments. We know very little about spousal effects and extended family influences, even
less about the impact of children on parents, and virtually nothing about the influence
of siblings on religious preferences and choices. Family and life course transitions will
also have an impact on religious preferences and choices. We know quite a bit about
how divorce and childrearing impact religious choices (affiliation and church atten-
dance) but very little about how these events might alter religious tastes. Perhaps more
important, there are no serious studies of how experiences of death and serious illness
might impact religious desires and choices. Studies addressing these issues may help us