Challenging the established order: the subversion of the economy of symbolic goods in a neopentecostal institution in the brazilian religious field

Abstract

The growth of the neo-pentecostal segment and its impacts on the brazilian religious field has been the subject of study by a variety of researchers from the most diverse areas of knowledge. Although there are articles by brazilian authors whose scope is the analysis of the functioning logic of the symbolic goods market in different fields and in the light of bourdiesian theory, works that seek to better understand the brazilian religious field from an analysis of the economy of its goods symbols are incipient. Likewise, studies that seek to bring this discussion closer to that undertaken in the field of Organizational Studies, through the analysis of religious institutions of the different aspects present in the brazilian reality, still seem to be scarce. With this in mind, the main purpose of this article is to understand the specificities of the market for material and symbolic goods in a neo-pentecostal religious institution created in the late 1980s, in the interior of Minas Gerais. For the purposes of this work, of an essentially qualitative nature, fifteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with pastors and faithful of the researched neo-pentecostal religious institution. Based on the analysis of the interviews, we could observe that the studied institution occupies a “subversive” position within the brazilian religious field, and in the evangelical field in particular. Such a "subversive" position can be observed, for example, in the establishment of a leader/faithful relationship based on a transactional logic, a clear denial of the economic with regard to the trade of religious articles, as well as the construction of an informal environment inside and outside the church space.

Keywords

• neopentecostalismo
• religião
• mercados de bens simbólicos