TITLE:
Globalization, Cultural Change and Religion: The Case of Pentecostalism
AUTHORS:
Alberto da Silva Moreira
KEYWORDS:
Globalization; Cultural Change; Religion; Pentecostalism; Consumer Culture
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.2 No.4,
April
23,
2014
ABSTRACT: The challenges faced by this paper are two folds: to understanding how cultural changes brought about by globalization can influence religions and, conversely, how religions can influence broader cultural change. Globalization has spread powerful cultural forms, such as international popular consumer culture, media culture and the culture of the individual. These cultural forms or horizons interact with and transform local cultures which are often intertwined with traditional religions. Throughout this process, traditional religion can weaken its potential to express local cultures, but can also become a vehicle used to express strategies of identity affirmation. Many modalities of globalization-compatible religion, like Pentecostalism, are also consistently penetrated by consumer culture, media culture and individualism. When they interact with traditional religion, they often function as a critical dissolving factor. Therefore, Pentecostalism and similar religions have themselves become active factors in (global) cultural change processes.