Why Study Religion from a Latin American Sociological Perspective? An Introduction to <i>Religions</i> Issue, “Religion in Latin America, and among Latinos Abroad”

• Main Author: Gustavo Morello
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
• Series: Religions
• Subjects: religiosity; Latin America; modernity; sociology; secularization; religious economy; popular religion
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/6/399

This article introduces the <i>Religions</i> issue on Latin American religiosity exploring sociological perspectives on the Latin American religious situation, from a Latin American perspective. The Secularization Theory proposes &#8220;the more modernity, the less religion&#8221;, but in Latin America we see both, modernity and religiosity. The Religious Economy model, on the other hand, affirms &#8220;the more pluralization, the more religion&#8221;, but in Latin America there is not so much pluralization, and it is not easy to switch from one religion to other. Finally, the article presents a Latin American model, the &#8220;popular religiosity&#8221; one. The problem with it, is that it is mostly &#8216;Catholic,&#8217; and so does not account for the growing religious diversity in the region. It also emphasizes the &#8220;popular&#8221; aspect, excluding middle socioeconomic status individuals and elites, assuming they practice &#8220;real&#8221; religion. This introduction presents a critical approach as a way to recover, describe, and understand Latin American religious practices. This methodology might be a path to creating sociological categories to understand religion beyond the north Atlantic world.