A racionalização e a esfera da religião: um estudo sobre marketing religioso em Campina Grande-PB.

Abstract

The present work aims to analyze the development of competition and rationalization of religious institutions in the Brazilian religious market by focusing on the religious marketing practices of two Christian institutions in the city of Campina Grande, the Catholic Community Pius X and the Church Protestant / Evangelical Word of Life. The theoretical perspective is inspired by the paradigm of the Religious Market, as formulated by Berger (1985), Stark, Finke, Iannaccone (1992) & Bainbridge (2008) and Guerra (2003, 2006). Our methodology consisted of an analysis of the mixes Of marketing produced by the selected institutions and of semi-structured interviews with their leaders, as well as the intense attendance of the activities of the two selected religious communities. The results presented here confirm the hypotheses regarding the high degree of rationalization of religious institutions, especially regarding organizational structure and processes, which are more appropriate for Secular Market terms and models. Regarding the marketing mixes and tools, the rationalization of the religious institutions studied takes its own shape and adapts to the environment of the Religious Field. It was highlighted the naturalization of religious marketing strategies, very similar to what any other company does, and the denial of its use by the subjects interviewed.