The WIREL conference “Religion in Vienna: Urban Trends in a European Context” (20-21 November 2014) provided a platform for scientists studying past, present and future trends of religious diversity in Vienna to meet and exchange ideas with international researchers working on the topic in other European countries and cities. Thematic areas of interest covered included religious diversity, fertility, partner choice, religiosity and residential distribution. This gathering of scholars placed WIREL research on Vienna’s changing religious landscape in a comparative European light.
Photo: Lisa Janisch
Speakers & Presentations
Keynote I
- Vegard Skirbekk (Wittgenstein Centre & Norwegian Institute of Public Health): The future of religion worldwide
Drivers of Religious Change
- Anne Goujon (Wittgenstein Centre) and Ramon Bauer (Wittgenstein Centre & University of Vienna): Reconstructing and visualising the population of Vienna by religion, 1971-2011
- Tuomas Martikainen (Åbo Akademi University, Finland): Migration and contemporary religious change
Fertility and Partnerships
- Tomáš Sobotka and Kryštof Zeman (Wittgenstein Centre): Studying fertility differentials by religious affiliation in Vienna
- Amparo González Ferrer and Teresa Castro Martin (Spanish National Research Council – CSIC): Does religiosity matter for partnership and fertility aspirations? A comparison of immigrant and native adolescents in Madrid
- Raya Muttarak and Maria Rita Testa (Wittgenstein Centre): Exploring interreligious unions in Austria: Trends, patterns, fertility, and children’s religious affiliation
- Sarah Carol Berlin Social Science Center (WZB): Like will to like? Partner choice among Muslim migrants and natives in Western Europe
Geography of Diversity
- Ramon Bauer (Wittgenstein Centre & University of Vienna), Markus Speringer and Guy J. Abel (Wittgenstein Centre): Religious and ethnic neighbourhood profiles in Vienna, 1971–2011
- Gemma Catney (University of Liverpool): Ethnic diversity, mixing and ‘segregation’ in England and Wales, 1991-2011
Mortality
- Johannes Klotz (Statistics Austria) and Richard Gisser (Wittgenstein Centre): Mortality differentials by religious denominations
Religiosity
- Michaela Potančoková (Wittgenstein Centre) and Caroline Berghammer (Wittgenstein Centre & University of Vienna): Religious intensity and beliefs in an urban context: The case of Vienna
- Tatiana Podolinská & Miloslav Bahna (Slovak Academy of Sciences): Late modern religiosity in Slovakia: Trends and patterns in comparative perspective
- Desirée Krivanek (Wittgenstein Centre) and Caroline Berghammer (Wittgenstein Centre & University of Vienna): Becoming non-affiliated: A mixed-methods study on leaving the Catholic Church in Austria
The Future
- Marcin Stonawski, Anne Goujon (Wittgenstein Centre) and Ramon Bauer (Wittgenstein Centre & University of Vienna): The future Viennese religious landscape
Keynote II
- Eric Kaufmann (Birkbeck College, University of London): Religious rebirth in Europe’s cities: Global demographics and the rise of ethno-religion
Conclusion
- Anne Goujon (Wittgenstein Centre): Changing religious landscape of Vienna: The findings
Special thanks for organising the conference:
- Lisa Janisch, Matthew Cantele and Bernhard Rengs (Wittgenstein Centre)
>> Download the conference programme