Student Number

25309

Degree

Master of Science in Development Studies

Department

Department of Economics

School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Date of Submission

Spring 7-28-2025

Supervisor

Dr. Arslan Waheed, Assistant Professor and Program Director, Graduate Programs SSLA

Committee Member 1

Dr. Adam Abdullah, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences

Committee Member 2

Dr. Ismat Abbas, Assistant Professor SSLA - SESS

Keywords

Religious minority, Discrimination, Social support, Resilience

Abstract

Religious minorities face extremism, exclusion, discrimination, and violence in their daily lives, leading to their exclusion from both social and political spheres. A similar situation exists for Christian minorities, who have been experiencing the impacts of religious intolerance, placing them in a vulnerable position. The focus of the study is on Christian minority communities residing in Karachi, to understand their experiences of discrimination and to explore how the church provides support to its community. Participants were selected through snowball sampling and online interviews, with an age group of 20–30 years, who had at least completed higher education. Further, the research was guided by Cohen & Wills (1985) theory of Social Support and results showed that Christian minorities face various forms of discrimination in the education sector, job sector, and in their daily lives. However, the role of the church here acted as a protective factor and provided support in the form of emotional support, informational support, and instrumental support. This helped participants to cope with the negative impacts of discrimination and feel a sense of belonging and unity within the community and build resilience against distress. The findings of the study showed that participants lived experiences were largely homogeneous and aligned with existing literature. However, church-based support offered new insights into the types of support available to Christian minorities, which helped them cope with their circumstances. The study is limited to a single locality, which may affect the generalizability of the results. Future research could be conducted on a larger scale and should consider the geographical context, as it may yield different outcomes.

Submission Type

Research Project

Document Type

Restricted Access

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