S01E44 - The Stalled Revolution Versus Secularization: The dynamic relationship between gender attitudes and religiosity

This podcast episode, based on Elizabeth E. McElroy, S. Abby Young, and Cyrus Schleifer’s 2025 article "The Stalled Revolution versus Secularization," investigates the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between gender attitudes and religiosity in the United States. Utilizing longitudinal data from two national panel datasets, the discussion explores how an individual's support for gender egalitarianism in private family life serves as a powerful driver of their future religious decline across all age groups. While religiosity is found to be a far less reliable predictor of future gender attitudes for the general population, the episode highlights a critical exception: for young women in their 20s, religious engagement appears to counteract the broader societal trend toward egalitarianism, effectively stalling their adoption of more equitable family views. The podcast ultimately unpacks how these intertwined shifts suggest a "tipping point" in cultural power, where the social influence of traditional religious institutions is increasingly being eroded by the ongoing "gender revolution"Complete Citation:McElroy, Elizabeth E., S. Abby Young, and Cyrus Schleifer. "The stalled revolution versus secularization: The dynamic relationship between gender attitudes and religiosity." Socius 11 (2025): 23780231251366719.