sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

, elite religion is defined as the symbols, rituals and beliefs which are recognized as legitimate by the leadership of that religion. Elite religion is often contrasted with

folk religion In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional religion or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized re ...

, or the religious symbols and beliefs of the masses. Elite religion is then the "official religion" as championed by the leaders of a religion.Liebman, Charles. ''The Ambivalent American Jew''. Jewish Publication Society. (1973): 83-86. Some researchers see the concept as potentially applying to a range of internal religious divisions such as orthodoxy versus heterodoxy, between the clergy and the laity, or between the religion's wealthy adherents and the poor.Duffy, E. (2006). Elite and popular religion: The Book of Hours and lay piety in the Later Middle Ages. Studies in Church History, 42, 140-161.

Elite versus folk religion

Whereas the primary expression of elite religion is in religious ideology, folk religion in primarily expressions

religious rituals Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

and symbols. Elite religion's ideology is characterized as internally unified, while the beliefs or ideas that underlie different religious folk rituals may be incompatible with one another. Folk religious practices concerning key rituals, such as coming of age ceremonies, may become the object of intense elite criticism.Schoenfeld, S. (1987). Folk Judaism, elite Judaism and the role of bar mitzvah in the development of the synagogue and Jewish school in America. ''Contemporary Jewry'', 9(1), 67.

Strengthening denominationalism

Sociologist Charles Liebman theorized that the strengthening of elite religion over members of a particular group led to the growth of

denominationalism A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities. The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...

References

{{reflist, 30em Sociology of religion