Mapping Religious Affiliation In The Glasgow Region

By Author: Arsenalo
Total Articles: 115
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While unvaried mapping of the distributions of individual religious groups was of primary value a more comprehensive representation of the denominational geography of the Glasgow region was derived by means of principal components analysis. A combined data set of 31 religious and social variables for the 272 postcode sectors in the Glasgow region was subjected to principal components analysis with varimax rotation to a final solution. Six components explained 91% of the variance in Shoes Online the data. The summary results of the procedure are presented in Table 3. Mapping the factor scores on each component revealed the geographical distribution of adherents of each of the main religions.

While acknowledging the denominational pluralism of neighborhoods, Figure 1 revealed the geography of religious congregation in the Glasgow region by identifying, for each religion, areas with the highest concentrations of adherents. This map depicts those locales with the strongest concentrations of adherents for each religion as indicated by the highest factor scores across all principal ...
... components. As Figure 1 shows, above average concentrations of Catholic population were found in a number of areas. These included inner East End neighborhoods such as Calton, older industrial areas along the river Clyde including Govan, and Yoker, inner suburban areas in the north of the city and south of the city, peripheral council estates at Pollok and Castlemilk, and settlements beyond the city edge as at Coatbridge and Clydebank. An explanation for the geography of Catholic concentration is provided by the associated socio-economic profiles of the areas identified. These were characterized by mean levels of unemployment (13%) more than double the national average (6%), the highest levels of Discount Shoes households with no car (58%), lone parent families (21%), people suffering limiting long term illness (28%), households occupying social rented housing (48%), and those in the lowest social group (37%). The statistical and cartographic analyses clearly indicate a relationship between areas of social disadvantage and highest concentrations of Catholic population.

Figure 1 also revealed marked geographical concentrations for adherents of the other main religions. The Jewish population exhibits a high degree of socio-spatial congregation in suburbs to the south of the city. The Jewish populations of areas including Busby, Giffnock, Thornliebank, Newton Mearns, and Thorntonhall are characterized by high levels of employment in higher managerial and professional occupations (15%), owner occupation (91%) and of married couple households (68%). This distribution is indicative of a long-standing process of residential congregation by middle class Jewish families, similar to that observed in other congregations in neighborhoods on the edge of the central city at Cowcaddens, and in Govanhill and Pollokshields south of the river.