Social Dislocation and Pentecostalism: A Multivariate Analysis

Abstract

It has long been noted that social dislocation gives rise to mass movements. This paper attempts to relate individual histories of social dislocation to movement adherence, using respondentsfrom Palmira in the Cauca Valley of Colombia. Pentecostalism is viewed as a mass movement, involv- ing working class individuals and total changes in life-style. Multiple regression analysis de- monst rates that individuals of low SES who have experienced personal social dislocation in terms of migration and employment are more likely to become Pentecostals than theirfellows who have not had similar experiences. Primary ties are also important mechanisms for introducing lower class individuals to Pentecostalism. However, they were no more importantfor Pentecost- als who had not suffered personal dislocation than for those who had. Reports of lower class religious movements appear throughout the re- corded history of man. According to Wallace (1956), revitalization move- ments among primitives have arisen after cultural disruption, when the old culture will not easily satisfy the situational requirements and where new cultural patterns which can be appropriated by the people have not emerged. The Mediterranean mystery religions of classical and Hellenistic times are interpreted by Linton (1955) as related to dislocations and broken community affiliations concomitant with urban growth. Weis- berger demonstrates that Christian revival eras have been periods follow- ing major cultural realignments. Troeltsch (1931) finds European re- volutionary crises followed by major new religious movements. Growth of sects such as Pentecostals in the United States is connected by Holt (1940) directly to the Great Depression. Many similar conditions of social dislocation exist in developing coun- tries today. And various kinds of lower class religious movements are aris- ing in these countries in response to them. In Latin America, in particular, we can see this phenomenon occurring in the emergence and growth of Pentecostal sects. In this article, I will attempt to delineate which set of ex- periences in the lives of lower class individuals has predisposed them to- ward joining a Pentecostal organization, an affiliation that calls for a com- plete alteration of life-style and beliefs. It is hypothesized that those individuals experiencing the greatest amount of social dislocation will be the most likely to become Pentecostals.