Charles Young Glock (October 17, 1919 – October 19, 2018) was an American sociologist whose work focuses on

sociology of religion Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use both of quantitative methods (surveys, ...

and survey research.

Biography and academic background

Charles Glock was born in the Bronx, New York in 1919. He earned a B.S. degree in

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

in 1940 and an

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Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

in 1941. He served in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

from 1942 to 1946 where he became a major. After serving in the army, Glock earned a Ph.D. in sociology at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Glock was

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sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, California. He was twice appointed chair of the department. Glock was a council member in the Religious Research Association in the early 1950s; president, American Association of Public Opinion Research, 1963-1964; one of the earliest members of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and its President, 1967-1968; during 1978-1979, he served as Vice-President of the American Sociological Association. Glock died on October 19, 2018 at the age of 99 in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Measures of religiosity

Glock is probably best known for his five-dimensional scheme of the nature of religious commitment, which comprises

belief A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take ...

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as Descriptive knowledge, awareness of facts or as Procedural knowledge, practical skills, and may also refer to Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called pro ...

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

, practice (sometimes subdivided into private and public

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

) and

consequences Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...

. The first four dimensions have proved widely useful in research because generally, they are individually distinct and simple to measure; ''consequences'', however, is a more complicated variable and difficult to isolate. Glock's five-dimensional scheme inspired other sociologists to compose their own measures of religiosity. One of the more complex spin-offs was

Mervin Verbit Mervin Feldman Verbit (born November 24, 1936) is an American sociologist whose work focuses on sociology of religion, American Jews and the American Jewish community. He is currently the chair of the Sociology Department at Touro College. Acad ...

's twenty-four dimensional measure.Küçükcan, T. (2010). Multidimensional Approach to Religion: a way of looking at religious phenomena. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 4(10), 60-70.

Studies in prejudice and antisemitism

Aside from his accomplishments in sociology of religion, Glock's other important work concerns the sociological and cognitive sources of prejudice. His book "Christian Beliefs and Anti-Semitism" co-authored with

Rodney Stark Rodney William Stark (July 8, 1934 — July 21, 2022) was an American sociologist of religion who was a longtime professor of sociology and of comparative religion at the University of Washington. At the time of his death he was the Distinguished ...

is based on surveys finding quantitative data in support of a theory tying Antisemitism to selective elements in Christian indoctrination.

Books

*Glock, C. Y. (ed.) (1967)
Survey research in the social sciences.
New York: Russell Sage Foundation. *Glock, C. Y. (ed.). (1973). Religion in Sociological Perspective. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. *Glock, C. Y., et al. (1975). Adolescent Prejudice. New York: Harper. *Glock, C. Y. & Bellah, R. N. (1976)
The new religious consciousness.
Berkeley: University of California Press. *Glock, C. Y. & Hammond, P.E. (1973)
Beyond the classics? Essays in the scientific study of religion.
Belmont CA: Wadsworth. *Glock, C. Y. & Morris, G. (1981)
A sociologist comments on getting, using, and making grants.
Sanford NC: Microfilming Corporation of America. *Glock, C. Y. & Quinley H. (1979). Anti-Semitism in America. New York: Free Press. *Glock, C. Y. & Siegelman, E. (1969)
Prejudice, U.S.A.
New York: Praeger. *Glock, C. Y. & Stark, R. (1965). Religion and Society in Tension. Chicago: Rand McNally. *Glock, C. Y. & Stark, R. (1966).
Christian beliefs and anti-Semitism.
New York: Harper & Row. *Glock, C. Y. & Stark, R. (1968). American Piety. Berkeley: University of California Press. *Glock, C. Y. & Stark, R. (1971). Wayward Shepherds. New York: Harper. *Glock, C. Y. & Stark, R. (1979)
The northern California church member study.
Ann Arbor: The Consortium. *Glock, C. Y., Selznick, G. J. & J. L. Spaeth (1966)
The apathetic majority: a study based on public responses to the Eichmann trial.
New York: Harper & Row. *Glock, C. Y., et al. (1967)
To comfort and to challenge; a dilemma of the contemporary church.
Berkeley: University of California Press. *Stark, R. & Glock, C. Y. (1968)
Patterns of religious commitment.
Berkeley: University of California Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glock, Charles Y. 1919 births 2018 deaths American sociologists Boston University School of Management alumni Columbia University alumni New York University alumni Military personnel from New York City Writers from the Bronx University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty United States Army Air Forces officers Presidents of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion