Os "novos" santos de calças jeans?: competição, consumo e o paradigma da semelhança na esfera religiosa de Campina Grande-PB.

Abstract

The present study aims to (1) bring into focus the analytical assumptions of Berger (1985) and Guerra (2000) about the religious market dynamics, more precisely its Similarity Paradigm, whereby religious institutions operating in a situation of religious market, insofar competing for the same consumer segments, tend to resemble a significant part of their models of religiosity; (2) study the demand side of the Catholics, analyzing the consumption that they make - those who lived through the previous models of the Catholic Church, now experiencing this new "way of being" Catholic, and those who were born in this model of resembled Church – of similar products observed, understanding the consumption from the practical aprropriations consumers do of that they consume. Our methodology consisted of the comparison of a non-randomized sample of Catholic Parishes from the Diocese of Campina Grande (Paraiba State) sites with a nonrandomized sample of neo-Pentecostal churches sites in the same town, checking out what comes resembling in terms of that they offer as religious activities. In addition, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a nonrandomized sample of Catholics parishioners, stratified by age and parishes whose sites were analyzed as described above. Among our findings, we highlight the confirmation of the general propositions of the Paradigm of Similarity, in the case studied, which revealed the resemblance between products offered to the segment of young people by the IC parishes and evangelical churches analyzed. We also highlight that younger Catholics we interviewed demonstrate greater adaptability to this new way of being of the Catholic Church, as the events have become a form of "sacred entertainment", while the olderones showed a certain lack of knowledge about the similar activities we found out.