(A12) Local Elites between Denomination-Bound Citizens’ Commitment and Party Politics – Multifunctional Players under Conditions of Normative Positioning and Positioning Focused on Interests

The study “Local Elites between Denomination-Bound Citizens’ Commitment and Party Politics” dealt with the relationship of politics and religious civil society at a local level. To this end, the project group took into consideration players who were operating both in local politics and in religious civil society. The starting point of our reflections was that these multifunctional players should have to experience conflicts of interest and/or values due to the different field logics.

However, the findings show on several levels that there are hardly any conflicts. On the contrary, a strong interaction between political and religious civil-societal commitment can be seen on the individual level. Moreover, general propositions about the relationship of local politics and religious civil society result from the project. The study is empirically based on 40 qualitative interviews taken in three regions in Germany.