?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.relation=https%3A%2F%2Fmpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de%2F14359%2F&rft.title=Religion%2C+Clubs%2C+and+Emergent+Social+Divides&rft.creator=Makowsky%2C+Michael&rft.subject=Z12+-+Religion&rft.subject=D71+-+Social+Choice+%3B+Clubs+%3B+Committees+%3B+Associations&rft.subject=C63+-+Computational+Techniques+%3B+Simulation+Modeling&rft.description=Arguments+for+and+against+the+existence+of+an+American+cultural+divide+are+frequently+placed+in+a+religious+context.+This+paper+seeks+to+establish+that%2C+all+politics+aside%2C+the+American+religious+divide+is+real%2C+that+modern+religious+polarization+is+not+a+uniquely+American+phenomenon%2C+and+that+religious+divides+can+be+understood+as+naturally+emergent+within+the+club+theory+of+religion.+Analysis+of+the+2005+Baylor+Religion+reveals+a+bimodal+distribution+of+religious+commitment+in+the+US.+International+survey+data+reveals+bimodal+distributions+in+twenty-eight+of+thirty+surveyed+countries.+The+club+theory+of+religion%2C+when+applied+in+a+multi-agent+model%2C+generates+bimodal+distributions+of+religious+commitment+whose+emergence+correlates+to+substitutability+of+club+goods+for+standard+goods+and+the+mean+population+wage+rate.+Ramifications+of+religious+bimodality+include+potential+instability+of+majority+rule+electoral+outcomes.+Median+estimators%2C+such+as+majority+rule+democracy%2C+are+non-robust+with+bimodal+distributions.+When+religion+is+politically+salient+and+polarized%2C+small+errors+can+disproportionately+shift+the+election+result+from+the+preferences+of+the+median+voter.&rft.date=2009-03-30&rft.type=MPRA+Paper&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.language=en&rft.identifier=https%3A%2F%2Fmpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de%2F14359%2F1%2FMPRA_paper_14359.pdf&rft.identifier=++Makowsky%2C+Michael++(2009)%3A+Religion%2C+Clubs%2C+and+Emergent+Social+Divides.++++&rft.language=en