Religiositet bland migranter : Sverige-chilenares förhållande till religion och samfund
Religiosity among Migrants : Swedish-Chileans´ Relation to Religion and Communions
Author
Summary, in English
The purpose of this study is to examine changes related to migration in the religiosity of individuals and what lies behind such changes. The study is foremost based on interviews with 23 Swedish-Chileans who have lived in Sweden for an extended period of time and who were adults when they immigrated to Sweden. The interviews are thematic life stories. Each one of the individuals narrates his or her life-story and each narration focuses upon a theme: one’s own religiosity. The study also includes data collected by sending a letter to a larger, random selection of Swedish-Chileans. This letter contained relevant question on religiosity. The changes in the religiosity of these Swedish-Chileans is studied based upon a working-hypothesis that religiosity is something that is created, maintained, and changed by way of the individual being part of a social context. The analysis of the findings is accomplished primarily through an application of Peter Berger’s and Thomas Luckmann’s conceptions of socialization and plausibility structures. The study also discusses the conception of religiosity and, given this topic, which groups or individuals may be studied.
Both the findings from the inquiry and the interviews show that religious changes are common among Swedish-Chileans. The changes however move in different directions, are of different intensity, and touch on different aspects of the religiosity of the individuals. The findings from the interviews point at that the changes in the life situation that have occurred as a result of the physical transfer from one country to another, i.e., a situational change, as well as changes that are related to the passage of time, i.e., a process change. The underlying causes of the changes in religiosity are also that the social structures that were significant for the religiosity, i.e., the socio-religious structures of the interviewees, are not the same in Sweden as they were in Chile.
Both the findings from the inquiry and the interviews show that religious changes are common among Swedish-Chileans. The changes however move in different directions, are of different intensity, and touch on different aspects of the religiosity of the individuals. The findings from the interviews point at that the changes in the life situation that have occurred as a result of the physical transfer from one country to another, i.e., a situational change, as well as changes that are related to the passage of time, i.e., a process change. The underlying causes of the changes in religiosity are also that the social structures that were significant for the religiosity, i.e., the socio-religious structures of the interviewees, are not the same in Sweden as they were in Chile.
Publishing year
2004
Language
Swedish
Publication/Series
Lunds Studies in Sociology of Religion
Volume
5
Full text
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University
Topic
- History of Religions
Keywords
- religious faith
- life crisis
- life change
- religious communions
- socioreligious structures
- Thomas Luckmann
- Peter Berger
- plausibility structures
- socialisation
- Swedish-chileans
- Migration
- religiosity
- Social structures
- Sociala strukturer
- Theology
- Teologi
Status
Published
Supervisor
- [unknown] [unknown]
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1651-4432
- ISBN: 91-974760-1-3
Defence date
2 April 2004
Defence time
10:15
Defence place
Carolinasalen, Kungshuset, Lundagård, Lund, Sweden
Opponent
- Jörgen Straarup (Prof)