When Sects Become Middle Class: Impression Management among Middle-Class Pentecostals in Argentina
Sect-to-church theory assumes that sects will become more church-like as members’ socioeconomic status improves. By abandoning tension-related characteristics, they decrease the level of tension with their social environment. Studying Pentecostal middle-class congregations in Argentina, this article...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2017]
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| In: |
Sociology of religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 78, Issue: 3, Pages: 318-339 |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Sect-to-church theory assumes that sects will become more church-like as members’ socioeconomic status improves. By abandoning tension-related characteristics, they decrease the level of tension with their social environment. Studying Pentecostal middle-class congregations in Argentina, this article shows that the reduction of tension involves impression management: the studied middle-class congregations display middle-class features (e.g., educational training) and selectively shield tension-related practices (e.g., glossolalia) from the glances of non-Pentecostal peers. Instead of abandoning tension-related practices to reduce tension, middle-class congregations strategically adjust their religious practices depending on the extent to which these are accessible for relevant outsiders, switching between sect-like and church-like styles of religion. |
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| ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/socrel/srx030 |