This dissertation attempts to explore the nature of a particular food consumption pattern using a number of different deviance theories in order to outline the career path of vegetarianism. Using semi-structured interviews with 45 practicing vegetarians from two regions of the United States, the career path of the vegetarians was developed around David Matza's (1969) theory of becoming deviant. Within each stage of Matza's classic work, more specific theories were applied to explain the friction between vegetarianism and the more socially-accepted practice of meat eating within the United States. The framework of the stages includes the affinity for, affiliation with, and signification of vegetarian ideology and practice. Each stage within the theory is also a stage in the development of the vegetarian identity. The more specific theories utilized to explain phenomena within each particular stage attempt to show a progression from initially being interested in the ideals and practice of vegetarianism to becoming and verbalizing as a mature, practicing vegetarian. Finally, the vegetarians interviewed were asked to give the prognosis for the future of vegetarianism. / Ph. D.

Religious conversion is an interesting phenomenon that crosses religious beliefs. This phenomenon intersects with many various disciplines, from medicine through the scientific disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, religious studies, psychology and theology. Religious conversion may on the one hand be a demonstration of deep spiritual experience and on the other, the result of strong pressure from others. We can get closer to the truth only through the authentic testimonies of the converts. This is why I have chosen the theme of the religious conversion in the context of "pure experience". We can see differences among conversions to various religions. But it is necessary to say, that I am interested in conversion to Christianity. But the Christianity of two thousand years ago is not the Christianity of today. The Apostle Paul joined a marginal movement at a time when such acceptance was punishable by death. Today, however, converts have joined millions of faithful around the whole world. And this is why religious conversion to Christianity is a lively phenomenon. In my thesis I would like to clarify the question: "What is religious conversion?" Is it a manifestation of the power of God, or is it a clearly human decision? Has the conversion some connection with the social environment, or is...

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:19:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose do Carmo Rodrigues.pdf: 2898491 bytes, checksum: 473cc1716aeaac6928ba176e2791cfcc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-28 / This work performs an analytical study of the religious conversion phenomenon. Particularly, of the factors which motivated the transit of followers of any religion to Spiritism, in Brazil. The groups under study from which new Spiritists originate have been divided in seven blocks: Catholicism, Protestantism, African-Brazilian religions, Umbanda, Asian religions, others and no religion. This analysis favors the social and psychological factors that have led an individual to change religion. By exploring the Brazilian case, this work also approaches the multiplicity of religions, sects, beliefs and religious movements present in the Brazilian scenario, within the dynamics of forces involving this religious sphere. In order to do so, a historical summary of the main religious movements in the Brazilian case is presented. The emphasis is on Spiritism in Brazil and in the world, as a means of characterizing the evolution processes of the Spiritist Doctrine and the arguments with which this Doctrine competes in this mosaic of religious convictions. The research is supported on a questionnaire distributed throughout the national territory, collecting from respondents data that allow us to qualify them under several aspects: income, education, regional location, knowledge and practice of the Spiritist Doctrine, etc. Within the consultation aspects, 18 options are suggested as reasons for the change of religion to Spiritism, and in twenty other aspects, a deepening of the option presented more often in the previous group is offered. The initial options are distributed among the most frequent reasons for religious change observed by the author in personal experience and in literature. The statistic data have been collected from more than two thousand three hundred respondents, in more than 400 municipalities, in all Brazilian states. / Este trabalho faz um estudo analítico do fenômeno da conversão religiosa. Particularmente, dos fatores que motivam o trânsito de fiéis de uma religião qualquer para o Espiritismo, no Brasil. Os grupos em estudo, dos quais são provenientes os novos espíritas foram divididos em sete blocos: Catolicismo, Protestantismo, afro-brasileiras, Umbanda, orientais, outras e, nenhuma. Essa análise privilegia os fatores sociais e psicológicos que levam um indivíduo a mudar de religião. Ao explorar o caso brasileiro, este trabalho aborda também, a multiplicidade de religiões, seitas, crenças e movimentos religiosos presentes no cenário brasileiro, dentro da dinâmica de forças que envolvem esse campo religioso. Para isso, é apresentado um resumo da história dos principais movimentos religiosos no caso brasileiro. Dá-se ênfase ao Espiritismo no Brasil e no mundo, como forma de caracterizar os processos de evolução da Doutrina Espírita e os argumentos com que a essa Doutrina compete nesse mosaico de convicções religiosas. A pesquisa se apoia em um questionário distribuído em todo território nacional, que coleta dos respondentes, dados que permitem qualificá-los sob diversos aspectos: renda, educação, localização regional, conhecimento e prática da Doutrina Espírita, etc. Dentro dos quesitos de consulta estão sugeridas 18 opções, como razões da mudança da religião para o Espiritismo e, em outros vinte quesitos, um aprofundamento da opção que, no conjunto anterior se apresentou como a mais frequente. As opções iniciais se distribuem entre as razões mais frequentes da mudança de religião observadas pelo autor em sua experiência pessoal e na literatura. Os dados estatísticos foram coletados de mais de 2.300 depoentes, em mais de 400 municípios, em todos os Estados do Brasil.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:30:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Emerson da Costa Andrade.pdf: 339119 bytes, checksum: e558487445829386499037035b0a63a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-02 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This paper aims to analyze the process of identity like metamorphosis, given the life history narratives of practitioners converted. Based on the theoretical concepts of Antonio da Costa Ciampa, we will study the identity, considering the psychosocial elements contained in the life and conversion to a new religion, in this case Buddhism. Through semi-directed interviews, we try record the living memory of individuals, to understand the metamorphosis that marked the different sectors of their lives, new meanings that have to be allocated to these facts, how they perceive themselves and what has changed in the social sphere. Also, this paper shows a brief survey about the Buddhism in Brazil and worldwide, addressing the psychosocial aspects of religion, and the analysis of identity in relation to understanding the metamorphosis in life stories. In this perspective we seek to develop grounds for the application of theoretical proposal about the issue of identity as a metamorphosis in search of emancipation / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o processo de identidade como metamorfose, diante das narrativas da história de vida dos praticantes convertidos. Com base nas concepções teóricas de Antonio da Costa Ciampa, estudaremos a identidade, considerando os elementos psicossociais contidos na vida e na conversão para uma nova religião, neste caso o budismo. Através de entrevistas semidirigidas, buscamos registrar a memória viva dos indivíduos, compreendendo as metamorfoses que marcaram os diferentes setores de suas vidas, os novos significados que passaram a atribuir a estes fatos, como se percebem e o que mudou na esfera social. Também, o presente trabalho mostra uma breve pesquisa sobre o budismo no Brasil e no mundo, abordando os aspectos psicossociais da religião, e a análise da Identidade no que se refere a compreender as metamorfoses nas histórias de vida. Nesta perspectiva buscaremos desenvolver fundamentos para a aplicação da proposta teórica sobre a questão da identidade como metamorfose em busca de emancipação

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mitiyo Santiago Murayama.pdf: 1685422 bytes, checksum: d82245636d489108b87f0c70b67678b0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The scope of this research is to make an attentive reading of the official proselytize speech from the lay Buddhist organization Brasil Soka Gakkai Internacional (BSGI), which is published in several journals, contextualizing it according the two sociological conversion paradigms: classic and contemporary. These paradigms are built upon three main axis concerning time, intensity and social networking of the convert. According the classic paradigm, the conversion occurs suddenly and unexpectedly; it is very intense, since the individual is supposed to go through a deep and totalizing transformation in this decision-making moment. Also, it is a completely solitary and autonomic way, without any influence of others. The new paradigm, the contemporary one, shows conversion as a long-term process, where the convert interacts with their social context, presenting itself as an alternative for the classic paradigm of the religious conversion / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo fazer uma leitura do discurso proselitista oficial da organização leiga budista Associação Brasil Soka Gakkai Internacional publicado em seus diversos periódicos e contextualizá-lo segundo os dois paradigmas sociológicos da conversão religiosa, o clássico e o novo. Esses paradigmas estão relacionados em torno de três eixos principais relativos ao tempo, à intensidade e à rede social do convertido. Segundo o paradigma clássico, a conversão acontece de forma súbita, num momento repentino; caracteriza-se por ser muito intensa, já que o indivíduo passa por uma profunda e totalizante transformação nesse momento decisório; e ocorre de maneira solitária, sem a influência nem a participação de outros. O paradigma novo mostra a conversão como um processo que pode durar anos e é permeado por um diálogo do convertido com seu contexto social, apresentando-se dessa forma como uma alternativa para o paradigma clássico da conversão religiosa

The purpose of this study is to depict the entrance process into the Pentecostal church and compare it with three different models of the entrance process into religious organizations too se if there are any similarities. The purpose is also to see if there are any similarities between the informants in their entrance process, and which strengths and weaknesses the three models have, when utilized on the entrance process into the Pentecostal church. The results indicates that there are some similarities between the informant´s entrance process into the Pentecostal church, such as the contact the informants have with the Pentecostal church during their entrance process and the context the informant´s was situated in. There are also some similarities before joining, such as the engagement in religion and the longing after a community. The similarities with the three models indicate that they show most similarities with the model that John R. Rambo has created over the entrance process. The strength and weaknesses of the three models are varying, with all three models showing some strenghts and weaknesses. Some steps in the models could also be considered neutral, when compared to the entrance process into the Pentecostal church. One factor that contributes to the weaknesses of the models is the empiric material that the models are based on. / <p>Inga anmärkningar</p>

Religious conversion has been described as a “spiritual transformation” where converts experience an “intimate ‘union’ . . . [with] divine presence” (Sandage & Shults, 2007). To better understand motivators of conversion, several studies have examined how attachment patterns affect the likelihood, and speed of religious conversion (e.g., Granqvist & Hagekull, 1999; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2004; Kirkpatrck, 1998; Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990; Schnitker, Porter, Emmons, & Barrett, 2012). Converts' changes in personality, self-definition, and meaningfulness following conversion have been noted (Halama and Lačná, 2011; Paloutzian, Richardson, & Rambo, 1999). However, little, if any research has been conducted examining changes in attachment patterns of converts that occur following conversion. The current study, a follow-up to Hansen, Page, Fischer, and Williams (2014), examined the post-conversion attachment changes for 39 committed converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (ranging in time since baptism from 2 months to 35 years). Interviews were conducted previously (see Hansen, et al., 2014) in a semi-structured format by two undergraduate researchers (ranging from 30-60 minutes in length) and then transcribed by a third undergraduate research assistant. Two additional research assistants listened to the recordings and edited the transcriptions (Hansen, et al., 2014). Beginning with a theory-driven conceptual framework in the analysis, a qualitative hermeneutic interpretive method (see Jackson & Patton,1992; Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009) was used in the current study to explore the converts' transcripts. The converts were not asked specific questions regarding their relationships at the time of the interview. However, the converts spontaneously revealed various attachments patterns in the way that they spoke of themselves, their family, and their friends in their narratives. Three overarching themes were drawn from the analysis. The converts (a) demonstrated evidence of attachment patterns in their narratives; (b) experienced a spiritual conversion or an experience of having a new or closer relationship with God beyond a projection of their parental attachment style; and (c) experienced a spiritual restructuring of their attachment patterns. In other words, they described feeling that their closer relationship with God dramatically changed the way they viewed themselves and how they interacted in relationships with others. The findings of this study have implications for understanding the impact of spirituality on attachment patterns.

Religious experience is a narrative reality, while it certainly relates to doctrines and rituals, it is embodied by the stories people tell which express the meaning of conversion as understood by the converts themselves. In order to enter this narrative world we must engage the actual stories told by converts, making space for their narratives as they make meaning of their experiences and thus open windows on the emic perspective. Sometimes this happens through stories that are largely thematic—expressing conversion in mainly one metaphor. Other times, narratives may touch on many different ideas, allowing us to discern various internal structures, such as some of the factors leading to conversion. Nevertheless, as important as these narratives are, they are only part of the picture because religious conversion always takes place in context. Therefore, if we are to properly understand the deeply personal experience we call conversion, we must frame it within the social, cultural and historical currents swirling around that experience. The conversions in this study are rooted in the religious history of Central Asia, particularly the seventy-odd years of Soviet rule. By the end of that era, it is probably more appropriate to think in terms of localized islam, rather than a universal religion based on the text of the Quran. Not only so, but the once proudly distinct Muslim peoples, now living under Russian rule, had become enculturated into Russian patterns of life, thought, and worldview, a process referred to as Russification, something which had profound effects on the way some of them have experienced conversion away from their natal religion. This study examines both of these aspects, first the contextual and then the personal, through the stories of thirty-six Muslims who converted to faith in Christ in post-Soviet Central Asia. By exploring the deeply personal and the broadly contextual together, this study offers a clear view of the meaning of religious conversion, in a historical, social, and religious context. / Religious Studies & Arabic / D.Lit. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Cette recherche interroge la monarchie française en situation de crise en partant d’un pari politique hors norme, celui des prélats catholiques qui misèrent sur Henri IV, roi protestant. Elle étudie les diverses facettes de l’action politique de ces hommes et reconstruit les mécanismes de leur travail de légitimation du premier Bourbon, en privilégiant les premières années du règne. Centrer l’enquête sur ces années permet de restituer à cette période sa dimension d’incertitude vécue par les acteurs de la monarchie, qui se trouve généralement écrasée par le poids de l’histoire de la pacification, après l’édit de Nantes. Ce choix d’un temps court rend possible l’étude attentive des cérémonies possédant une grande importance symbolique, tels que l’abjuration et le sacre royaux. Trop souvent ces événements sont uniquement décrits, racontés par l’historiographie. L’analyse proposée ici s’attache à l’inverse à leur redonner leur dimension problématique, à réfléchir sur les choix stratégiques faits par le pouvoir, notamment en ce qui concerne leur publication, comme une seconde mise en scène, imprimée. En adoptant un angle d’observation centré sur l’engagement, tantôt exposé, tantôt discret du groupe de prélats (Jacques du Perron, Claude d’Angennes et leurs pairs), il devient possible d’appréhender la monarchie en tant qu’œuvre collective d’acteurs multiples qui agissent pour assurer sa survie. En proposant ainsi une alternative à la vision navarro-centrée qui domine largement l’historiographie, cette approche permet d’aborder d’une nouvelle façon la sortie des guerres de Religion et de révéler des acteurs peu connus, qui néanmoins jouent un rôle crucial dans ce processus. / This dissertation investigates the French monarchy during a moment of crisis, focusing on an exceptional political bet made by a number of catholic prelates who chose to support Henri IV, a Protestant king. Their varied political actions are studied here, and the mechanisms of their work of legitimation of the first Bourbon are reconstructed, with a particular attention to the first years of his reign. The emphasis on these years offers the opportunity to give back to this period its dimension of uncertainty, as lived by the actors of the monarchy, a dimension that is generally erased under the weight of the history of the pacification, beginning with the Edict of Nantes. The choice of a short period allows a careful analysis of ceremonies of great symbolic importance, such as the royal abjuration and coronation. Too often these events have been merely narrated by historiography. This analysis, however, seeks to reconstruct their problematic dimension. Specific attention will be paid to the choices made when these events were published, which constituted a second staging of the act in printed form. With the focal point placed on the political commitment of the prelates, which at times was explicit, and at other times remained discreetly hidden away, it becomes possible to understand the monarchy as the collective work of multiple actors who endeavoured to ensure its survival. Thus, by proposing an alternative reading of events to the Navarro-centric vision that largely dominates historiography, this approach discusses the end of the Wars of Religion from a new perspective, which uncovers lesser known actors, who nonetheless played a crucial role in this process.