Typology of Student's Cognitive Stances toward Religion; The Study of Students of University of Tehran and Sharif University

One of progresses of sociology of religion is about transcending beyond rigid and one-dimensional patterns of religiosity and inclining to complex and articulated patterns of religiosity or in other words “religiosities”. Incommensurability of different individuals’ stances rejects the possibility of any comparison or measurement. Such condition justifies the necessity of typology of different relations of individuals with religion. This research tries for typology of cognitive stances of students toward the religion. The only thing which is considered in this research is attitude and cognitive aspects; in the cases practical aspects are questioned, the primary goal is focusing on cognitive stances. Data of the research is gathered from 50 deep interviews in two stages with students of University of Tehran and Sharif University. Grounded Theory is used as method for classifying and categorizing data in achieving a pattern for typology. Conceptual framework is established by a cyclic process between induction (empirical data from interviews) and deduction (existing theoretical literature) in six general axes (ontology and attitudes about religion, expectations of religion, epistemology, anthropology, meaning and end of the life, and ethical foundations). This conceptual framework is the groundwork of second stage of interviews. Results which are formulated from codifying the data under the conceptualized axes have provided a four-dimensional pattern (ontological strategy, epistemological strategies of individual toward religion, individual’s position about quality of presence of religion in social ethics and politics, and reflex of cognitive stances on taking practical strategy toward religion) for typology of cognitive stances of students toward religion.