Ritual Conflict as Social Conflict: Liturgical Reform in the Roman Catholic Church
Controversy over the reform of the liturgy has been a key area of conflict among Roman Catholics in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Resistance to alterations in the Tridentine liturgy and to the mandatory implementation of a new rite of the Mass (Novus Ordo Missae) has been interpreted almos...
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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: |
1987
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| In: |
Sociological analysis
Year: 1987, Volume: 48, Issue: 2, Pages: 138-157 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Controversy over the reform of the liturgy has been a key area of conflict among Roman Catholics in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Resistance to alterations in the Tridentine liturgy and to the mandatory implementation of a new rite of the Mass (Novus Ordo Missae) has been interpreted almost exclusively along theological, psychological, or administrative lines. Little attention has been given to examining how conflict over “which rite is right?” is related to broader social tensions and structural dissolutions in contemporary Catholicism. The analysis in this article approaches ritual as a culture symbol that gives expression to social codes (identity, role, status, power). When viewed from this perspective, resistance to liturgical reform gives expression to class and interest-group conflict linked to the weakening of Catholic identity in a pluralistic society, to a crisis of role status loss among clerical elites, and to the emergence and empowerment of a new knowledge class within the Church. Examination of these issues sheds additional light on the impact of social change on the Roman Catholic Church and relates the transformation of ritual to broad social changes associated with modernization. |
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| ISSN: | 2325-7873 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociological analysis
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3711198 |