Citation

Moberg DO. Sociol. Relig. 1979; 40(1): 11-26.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1979, Association for the Sociology of Religion)

DOI

10.2307/3710493

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Social indicators of spiritual well-being (SWB) are desirable for quality of life studies. They also are needed in the sociology of religion because promotion of spiritual health is a central objective of most religious institutions, because evaluation of the alleged functional and dysfunctional consequences of their endeavors is of increasing social significance, and because the claim that SWB is promoted more effectively by non-religious than by religious agencies should be tested.Several strands of exploratory research which aim at the eventual development of an index of SWB are summarized. For example, questionnaires of 123 respondents indicate that seven-tenths believe it is possible for people to know whether or not they possess SWB. Two-thirds believe they possess it, but most think that only few or half of the population have SWB.The conceptual, theoretical, and empirical problems which spring from diverse definitions and divergent criteria of SWB are typical of most subjects when they are first introduced into the social sciences.