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Since the gradual removal of racial discriminatory immigration policies and practices began in the mid-1980s, immigrants of diverse religions, especially non-Christian religions have become a dynamic and important part of New Zealand. Immigrants contribute to the host democracy through civic engagement. Religion has been widely investigated as an influential factor of immigrant civic engagement. This study aims at a comprehensive understanding of the impact of religion on immigrant civic engagement in the New Zealand context.
To do so, the study innovated and improved the measurement of civic engagement and religious involvement. Religious involvement was measured as two main aspects: religiosity, and religious participation beyond worship. Civic engagement attitudes and behaviours were measured separately. The categorisation of latent political participation and manifest political participation was critically adopted from Ekman and Amnå’s (2012) typology of civic engagement. The new measurement was applied in the design of a quantitative questionnaire survey. The survey was conducted among post-1987 first-generation migrants, with permanent residency or citizenship, from major religious groupings including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism in the wider Auckland region. In total, 676 participants were included in the sample, and there was good distribution across these four religions.
The findings of this study indicate that religious involvement generally has positive effects on civic engagement attitudes and latent political participation behaviours, except that religiosity has a slight restraining effect on manifest political participation attitudes. The influence of religious involvement does not extend to manifest political participation behaviours, which are more affected by demographic, socioeconomic, and immigration-related variables. Results related to Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are shaped by the sampling settings, the ethnic composition, and the organizational forms of these religious groups. None of the three major non-Christian religious affiliations can be easily defined as an impetus or a hindrance to civic engagement attitudes or behaviours. Three mechanisms—motivation, mediation, and mobilisation, described as the 3M mechanisms—explain the effects of religious involvement and religious affiliations on immigrant civic engagement This study sheds light on a more advanced conceptualisation of religious involvement and civic engagement, and provides a critical perspective to understand relevant prior research. This study suggests strategies to improve immigrants’ civic engagement through their religious participation beyond worship, and proposes a policy framework to embrace and guide the civic engagement of immigrants, especially ethnic and religious minorities. Ultimately, this study aims to explore immigrants’ civic engagement, with the hope to facilitate their integration into the host society, which all contribute to the wellbeing of the New Zealand democracy. |
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