Prefatory Findings in the Sociology of Missions

Abstract

Sociological aspects of missionary activity are analyzed via a review of relevant literature. Two major strategies are identified, one oriented mainly toward social systems and the other toward individuals; the strategies appear to be associated with variations in the parent institution and the congregation of converts. Missionary tactics relate in part to types of opinion change postulated social psychologically; tactics also are aimed at dealing with structural conflicts between native and foreign sociocultural systems. Receptivity to religious innovations is found to increase under conditions of disorganization, a finding which fits current theories of value-oriented social movements. Foreign churches often are rejected if their social organization is too dissimilar to native patterns; further, the indigenous social organization, especially the ranking and kinship systems, channels diffusion.