Are Muslims Distinctive? A Look at the Evidence

by Fish, M. Steven

• ISBN13: 9780199769209
• ISBN10: 0199769206
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-02-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

How, if at all, do Muslims and non-Muslims differ? The question spurs spirited discussion among people the world over, in Muslim and non-Muslim lands alike, but we still lack answers based on sound empirical evidence. This book engages a set of the biggest issues using rigorous methods and data drawn from around the globe. It reveals that in some areas Muslims and non-Muslims differ less than is commonly imagined, and shows that Muslims are not unusually religious or inclined to favor the fusion of religious and political authority. Nor are Muslims especially prone to mass political violence. Yet in some areas Muslims and non-Muslims diverge: Gender inequality is more severe among Muslims, Muslims are unusually intolerant of homosexuality and other controversial behaviors, and democracy is rare in the Muslim world. Other areas of divergence bear the marks of a Muslim advantage: Violent crime and class-based inequities are less severe among Muslims than non-Muslims. Committed to discovering social facts rather than either stoking prejudices or stroking political sensibilities, Are Muslims Distinctive? represents the first major scientific effort to assess how Muslims and non-Muslims differ--and do not differ--in the contemporary world. Its findings have vital implications for human welfare, interfaith understanding, and the foreign policies of the United States and other Western countries.

Author Biography

M. Steven Fish is Professor of Political Science at the University of California-Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
How to Read the Tables in this Book	p. xi
Introduction	p. 3
Personal Religiosity and Religion in Politics	p. 19
Social Capital and Tolerance	p. 69
Corruption and Crime	p. 109
Large-Scale Political Violence and Terrorism	p. 133
Social Inequality	p. 173
Democracy	p. 229
Conclusion	p. 251
Appendixes
World Values Survey: List of Countries and Information on Religious Denominations	p. 267
Model Equations and Summary Statistics for Chapter 2	p. 269
Female and Male Attendance at Religious Services among Muslims in Countries with a Muslim Population of 25 Percent or Greater	p. 273
List of Countries Used in Tables 3.1-3.6	p. 275
Model Equations and Summary Statistics for Chapter 3	p. 277
Alternate Specification of Sociability Index	p. 281
OLS Output for Murder Rates	p. 285
Comprehensive List of Major Episodes of Intrastate Political Violence, 1946-2007	p. 287
OLS Output for Deaths in Major Episodes of Political Violence	p. 305
Comprehensive List of High-Casualty Terrorist Bombings (Involving Fifteen or More Deaths), September 11, 1994 to September 10, 2008	p. 309
Model Equations and Summary Statistics for Chapter 6	p. 331
1-3. OLS Output for Political Openness, Using Alterative Measures for Political Openness	p. 335
Model Equations and Summary Statistics for Chapter 7	p. 339
Matching Countries as a Robustness Check	p. 341
Notes	p. 345
Index	p. 375
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