Religious agency as a lens on transforming religious socialization in Finnish families

Although rarely defined, religious agency is considered pertinent for investigating how religion transforms as a result of agency-structure interplay. This study contributes to these discussions, employing religious agency as a lens to examine how family members negotiate religious socialization in a secularizing Finland. The analysis of 17 family interviews demonstrated that individuals exercise religious agency in both their negotiation of individual religiosity and its transmission to next generations. In these negotiations, they prioritize aspects of autonomy, authenticity, relevance, safety, open communication, as well as promote religious continuity or secularization. These preferences are negotiated against the following structures: the contemporary relevance of religion, religious control, the integration of religion with cultural heritage and contradicting and diversifying views. These findings illustrate how individuals’ religious agency shapes patterns of individualization, religious continuity and secularization. However, these patterns are inseparable from the above structures and are initiated by both providers and receivers of socialization.