Measuring Religion in Global Civil Society

This article illustrates two conceptual and methodological problems that interfere with the accurate identification and measurement of religious mobilization in global civil society. First, data used to study the organizational composition of global culture contain a selection bias that favors organizations within an elite stratum of the world polity, to the neglect of organizations in the lower strata, where religious mobilization is likely to be more prevalent. Second, religious mobilization is measured as if religion were a distinct sector of social life, not allowing for any overlap with other sectors. Through a comparison of data sources and methods, this article illustrates both the selection bias and prevalence of religious mobilization in human rights, an arena that is often assumed to be secular.