Abstract
Contrary to supposition, globalization is not imposing a homogeneous and secularized culture. A case study of popular beliefs and practices in Santiago (Chile) reveals the great transformations they have undergone, but not the decisive influence of a market-oriented and pragmatic culture. Traditional and orthodox Catholic beliefs are being relativized and diversified, and this is evident in the resurgence of new types of religious syncretisms—even within popular Catholicism—with elements of what have been called “new age” beliefs. There are numerous types of popular urban Catholicism, ranging from the rationalistic to the magico-religious and even mystico-esoteric. In urban and modern contexts, popular Catholicism provides a context for the reconstruction of community and local identities and for resisting the imposition of a global culture of consumerism, without impeding access to codes of modernity.
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