Sarah Demmrich – författare

Dieses Buch beschäftigt sich mit Ritualen Jugendlicher im konfessionslosen Kontext Ostdeutschland. Es fragt vertieft nach psychologischen Funktionen dieser sowie nach religiösen Erfahrungen, die in solchen Ritualen gemacht werden können. Hierzu wurde auf Basis einer Interviewstudie eine Fragebogenuntersuchung an mehr als 400 Jugendlichen durchgeführt. Zentrale Ergebnisse sind, dass Adoleszente während der Ritualausführung religiöse Erfahrungen machen können, indem sie einen Bezug zu einer übermenschlichen Macht wahrnehmen. Dabei unterscheiden sich religiöse von nicht-religiösen Ritualen in selbstreflektierenden, identitätsbildenden und emotionsregulativen Prozessen, wobei letztere durch die emotionale Prägung übermenschlicher Mächte beeinflusst werden.[Religiosity and Rituals. Empirical Studies on East German Youth]This book deals with rituals of young people in the non-denominational context of Eastern Germany. It explores the psychological functions of these rituals as well as the possible religious experiences which can occur therewith. For this purpose a questionnaire survey based on interviews with 400 young people was undertaken. A key result is that adolescents during the practice of rituals can make religious experiences that are conceptualized as a relation to a superhuman power. However, there are differences between religious and non-religious rituals in regard of processes of self-reflection, identity-building and regulation of emotions.

​The book discusses the theoretical and methodological challenges of an interculturally valid sociology of religion and provides insights into the autochthonous socio-religious research in Muslim societies and Asian countries. In this way, it links discourses that have so far taken place primarily independently of one another. The book goes back to a conference in Münster that questioned the Western foundation of empirical religiosity research, which reaches its limits in the non-American and non-European context, but also with regard to orthodox forms of faith in the Western context.

​The book discusses the theoretical and methodological challenges of an interculturally valid sociology of religion and provides insights into the autochthonous socio-religious research in Muslim societies and Asian countries. In this way, it links discourses that have so far taken place primarily independently of one another. The book goes back to a conference in Münster that questioned the Western foundation of empirical religiosity research, which reaches its limits in the non-American and non-European context, but also with regard to orthodox forms of faith in the Western context.