S01E36: Studying the West and Ignoring the Rest: Do Stylized Facts Established in the Christian West Generalize?

This podcast episode, based on Landon Schnabel's 2026 article "Studying the West and Ignoring the Rest," critiques the WEIRDS (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic, and secular) bias in the social sciences, which often mistakes specific Christian-influenced patterns for universal human trends. The discussion dismantles three prominent "stylized facts" by applying them to a more globally representative dataset: first, it reveals that while the West sees generational decline, younger people are actually more religious across the global population due to high fertility rates in more religious nations. Second, it challenges the "universal law" of greater female religiosity by demonstrating that men are significantly more religious in many Muslim contexts, particularly when public ritual participation is measured. Finally, it shows that the perceived conflict between religion and science is a specific Western cultural product rather than a global reality, as several traditions—including Islam and Hinduism—show positive associations between faith and scientific optimism. Ultimately, the episode highlights the urgent need to decolonize and de-Christianize sociological frameworks, moving away from grand universalizing theories toward more accurate, context-dependent understandings of global religious lifeFull citation: Schnabel, L. (2026). Studying the West and Ignoring the Rest: Do Stylized Facts Established in the Christian West Generalize?. Socius, 12, 23780231261451682.