Représentations sociales et figures stéréotypées : le catholique, le croyant et le pratiquant

Abstract

This article questions what it means to identify oneself as a Catholic, as a believer and as a religious practitioner for young people (18-35 years old) who declare themselves as Catholics and who live in Quebec. The article presents: 1) the ways of self-identification linked to religious belonging, belief and practice; 2) belief statements and declared practices; and 3) the stereotypical figures constructed from the condensation of social representations contents. The article allows for a better understanding of the meanings associated with religious identifications through the elaboration of stereotypical figures of the “Catholic”, the “believer” and the “practitioner” which help to better understand a reluctance to identify oneself as a full-fledged Catholic, believer and religious practitioner due to the estimation of not corresponding in a perfect adequacy to an idealized model acting as a reference pole.