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| Title: | Religion as a Source of Social Change in the New South Africa |
| Author: | Garner, Robert C. |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Religion in Africa |
| Volume: | 30 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Pages: | 310-343 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | Church society social change townships Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft Development and Technology |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1581495 |
| Abstract: | In the scholarship of recent decades, religion has been accorded little power as a source of social change, either 'from above' (via changes at the macro level) or 'from below' (at the micro level). However, as the attention of various disciplines has been drawn to developing societies, an awareness of the potential influence of religion has grown. Based on research in Edendale, a South African township in the vincinity of Pietermaritzburg, conducted after the macro-transition to democratic government, this article explores the social and economic mechanisms at work in a variety of Christian churches. It argues that their capacity to effect social change 'from below' is uneven, and that the most powerful are those which maximize four variables: indoctrination, religious experience, exclusion and socialization. These variables are often highest in Pentecostalism, and in certain types of African Independent Churches (AICs). The differential impact of church types on their members in the 'new' South Africa is then illustrated with reference to financial, social and cultural behaviour. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. |
