Theorizing Religious Switching Over the Life Course.

This paper uses the life course paradigm to explore theoretical ideas for modeling individual religious mobility. I examine long-standing theories of religious switching with an emphasis on individual level modeling in the rational choice tradition. Using these seemingly disparate theories, I show how the life course paradigm is able to provide a framework for fitting them together in a coherent whole. In addition, I consider how the life course paradigm is able to adopt the insights of the rational choice perspective while correcting for its excesses and oversimplifications. Lastly, I explore future directions for research in the area of religious mobility that are neglected from a life course perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]