Religious Tastes and Styles as Markers of Class Belonging: A Bourdieuian Perspective on Pentecostalism in South America

Abstract

Studies on the relationship between social class and religion tend to highlight the demographic dimension of class, but neglect its symbolic dimension. By addressing the symbolic dimensions through a Bourdieuian approach, this article contends that religious tastes and styles can be employed as class markers within the sphere of religion. A case study on Argentinean Pentecostalism and in-depth analysis of a lower and middle class church illustrate how symbolic class differences are cultivated in the form of distinctive religious styles. While the lower class church displays a style marked by emotional expressiveness and the search for life improvement through spiritual practices, the middle class church performs a sober and calm style of Pentecostalism. The study highlights the role of styles in the reproduction of class boundaries, while shedding a critical light on the importance of tastes.

Keywords

Argentina boundary work Bourdieu Latin America Pentecostalism rational choice religion social class style taste

Introduction

The relationship between social class and religion has been an almost forgotten topic in sociology. Despite having marked the beginnings of the discipline, in recent decades, the topic has been relegated to a marginal role (McCloud, 2007: 844; Smith and Faris, 2005: 103). It was Marx (1844) and Weber (1972 [1921]) who first pointed to the impact of social class on religion. While Marx described religion as the ‘opium of the masses’ (Marx, 1844), Weber argued that the privileged and the marginalised evolve different religious necessities (1972 [1921]: 296, 298–299). Richard Niebuhr (1929) gestured in the same direction, arguing that the boundaries of US-denominations stretch along class, race and nationality. The stratification thesis, stating a close link between social class and US-denominationalism, enjoyed strong support in sociology up until the 1970s (Demerath, 1965; Goldstein, 1969; Pope, 1948). However, with novel empirical evidence and the rise of alternative approaches – claiming, for instance, a ‘new volunteerism’ in the field of religion (Roof and McKinney, 1987) – the stratification thesis lost support and approaches highlighting the liberties of free religious choice in growing religious markets came to take its place (Berger, 1979: 28; Park and Reimer, 2002). In a similar vein, rational choice theorists Stark and Finke (2000: 198) regard the impact of class on religious behaviour as very modest. Nevertheless, an increased ubiquity of ‘free’ religious choice does not necessarily prevent social class from informing the choices. Thus, recent studies indicate an ongoing relationship between social class and religious affiliation (Coreno, 2002; Darnell and Sherkat, 1997; Davidson and Pyle, 2006; Keister, 2008; Keister and Keister, 2003; Keister and Sherkat, 2014; Schwadel, 2008, 2011; Sherkat, 2001; Sherkat and Wilson, 1995; Smith and Faris, 2005). The majority of these studies are based on the analysis of large quantitative samples, a focus that carries two limitations: first, studies based on vast quantitative data sets are not able to explore the interaction of class and religion on the micro-level; second, quantitative studies face difficulties in fully considering the symbolic dimension of class. Most studies show how religion relates to manifest (‘objective’) social inequalities in education, income, healthcare, etc.; for instance, by analysing how religion affects wealth accumulation (Keister, 2008) or describing education and income inequalities between US-American denominations (Smith and Faris, 2005). However, the way in which religion becomes a part of social class structure by creating (religious) status markers has been largely ignored. The marking of social class concerns the symbolic – as a counterpart to the ‘objective’ – dimension of social stratification. This article highlights the symbolic dimension by proposing a Bourdieuian approach for unfolding the relationship between class and religion, suggesting that individuals mark social class differences within the sphere of religion by showing distinct religious tastes and styles. This approach is illustrated through a case study on Argentinean Pentecostalism.

The article is structured as follows: it begins with sketching the theoretical apparatus of a Bourdieuian approach, before moving on to a review of Pentecostalism and social class in Latin America. The next section portrays the methodology and the empirical case study on Argentinean Pentecostalism. A critical discussion of the results contextualises the role of class by taking additional elements, such as social networks and alignment processes, into account. Finally, the conclusion summarises the results, suggests avenues for research on religion and social class and critically reflects on the relative role of religious tastes in reproducing social class boundaries.

A Bourdieuian Theory of Religious Tastes and Styles

Over the course of his academic career, Pierre Bourdieu developed his vast sociological theory, which has received mixed responses, from harsh criticism to approval and refinements of his approach (see, for instance, Bennett et al., 2010; Calhoun et al., 1993; Gartman, 1991; Lahire, 2006 [2004]; Lamont, 1992; Sallaz and Zavisca, 2007; Schäfer, 2015; Swartz and Zolberg, 2005). As an in-depth discussion of the reactions to Bourdieu’s theory would go beyond the scope of this article, I will focus on applying Bourdieu’s theory to the sociological study of religion.

In his early work, Bourdieu himself ventured to analyse the religious field which he conceived of as one of power struggles between different types of religious producers; namely: the priest, the sorcerer and the prophet (Bourdieu, 1971a, 1971b). Scholars have criticised this approach for its focus on the ‘supply side’ of religion and its disregard for the active role of ‘religious consumers’ and the internal diversification of the religious field (Dianteill, 2003; Dillon, 2001; Rey, 2007; Urban, 2003; Verter, 2003).

In contrast to his early work, Bourdieu’s more advanced sociology makes allowances for the ‘demand side’. Although Bourdieu himself never took advantage of his advanced sociology to study religion, his theoretical and methodological tools can be applied equally to religion, as has been shown, for instance, by contributions stressing the concept of ‘habitus’ (Barrett, 2010; Fer, 2010; Koehrsen, 2008; Nelson, 2009; Rey, 2005; Schäfer, 2011, 2015) and the notion of the social field (Seibert, 2010; Swartz, 1996). This article specifically elaborates upon Bourdieu’s notions of taste and style for the study of religion. In his ground-breaking work La distinction: Critique sociale du jugement, Bourdieu (1979) studies the correspondences between social class positions and cultural tastes and lifestyles in French society of the 1960s and 1970s. His analysis shows that individuals from different social positions tend towards different cultural tastes and lifestyles. Based on these findings, Bourdieu claims that tastes and lifestyles constitute emblems – markers of class belonging – through which individuals classify themselves and others (Bourdieu, 1979: I–II, VI, 59–64). Accordingly, individuals perform their social belonging by demonstrating specific tastes and lifestyles. However, these are not solely a strategy that allows individuals to perform – or pretend – class belonging. They are also the outcome of learned, incorporated dispositions, as described by Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’, which constitutes an individual’s system of dispositions to perceive, judge and act. It is shaped by the biography of the actor: the individual incorporates the ‘way of being’ of the given social environment. Thus, groups of individuals with close social bonds tend to generate similar habitus, differing in their ‘way of being’ from socially distant groups. Forming an incorporated sense of class belonging, the habitus leads actors towards cultural tastes and lifestyles that correspond to their social position (Bourdieu, 1979: 230–232). As a consequence, an actor’s taste and lifestyle can be described (a) as the outcome of his/her class-related socialisation processes and (b) as a – conscious and/or unconscious – strategy to perform and illustrate a specific class belonging. Tastes and lifestyles create visible class boundaries: they constitute the symbolic features of social class (Bourdieu, 1982: 18).

As the general dispositions of the habitus are likely to manifest in similar ways across different cultural fields (e.g. ‘habitus of necessity’ in the fields of nutrition, clothing, housing decoration), classes are likely to show similar patterns of likes and dislikes in different fields of cultural consumption (Bourdieu, 1979: 192–195). Whenever actors practice a specific style and display a particular taste in cultural fields, peers can recognise them as corresponding to a certain ‘class of people’.

Based on this Bourdieuian approach, it can be argued that actors mark social class differences within the sphere of religion by employing specific religious tastes and styles. The religious style concerns the performative dimension of religion and encompasses all the characteristics that are visible and potentially differentiating. The religious style of a church, for instance, embraces the way in which church services are performed as well as the physical infrastructure, organisation and symbolic recognition of the church.

By contrast, religious taste can be defined in two ways. First, as an analogy to style as a visible performance of class belonging: in this case, the emphasis is on the expressive dimension of taste, which does not differ from the notion of the style. However, in opposition to the concept of style, taste can also be defined as a system of predispositions embedded in the habitus of the actor. In this case, taste constitutes an actor’s system of preferences, which potentially guides the actor towards religious styles that match an ‘objective’ position. This article utilises the latter meaning to create a heuristic difference between style and taste.

When religion becomes a freely electable cultural ‘good’, individuals may consume religious ‘products’ in a way that suits their social position (see, for instance, Sherkat and Wilson, 1995): actors from different ‘objective’ social positions are likely to evolve dissimilar religious tastes and tend towards religious styles that correspond to their ‘objective’ social position, differing from the styles associated with other social classes. Furthermore, religious styles may be employed as a boundary drawing strategy (Lamont, 1992; Wimmer, 2008), demarcating visible class boundaries and signalling class belonging to other actors. As such, middle class actors may avoid religious styles attributed to the lower class and exhibit religious styles that underline their middle class belonging, visibly differing from the styles associated with the lower class. The following explorations into Argentinean Pentecostalism illustrate this application of the Bourdieuian approach.

Pentecostalism and Social Class in Argentina and Latin America

With an estimated 141 million adherents, Pentecostals are the second largest religious group in Latin America (Anderson, 2004: 63, 169), exceeded only by Catholics, comprising 7.9 per cent to 10 per cent of the population in Argentina (Conicet, 2008; Mallimaci et al., 2015; Pew Research Center, 2014). Despite the evolution of new Pentecostal styles which appeal to the middle class, Latin American Pentecostalism has been a predominantly lower class movement (Anderson, 2004; Chesnut, 1997, 2003; Freston, 1998; Lehmann, 1996; Mariz, 1994; Martin, 1990, 2002). Likewise, in Argentina, Pentecostal churches recruit their members primarily from the lower class (Conicet, 2008; Esquivel et al., 2001; Mallimaci, 1999: 86–87; Semán, 2000; Wynarczyk et al., 1995). The predominance of the lower class in the movement has led scholars to question what causes poor sectors to be particularly attracted to Pentecostalism. Many approaches refer to different kinds of deprivation to explain the lower class appeal of Pentecostalism (see, for instance, Chesnut, 1997; Mariz, 1994): Pentecostalism is conceived of as providing comfort and coping strategies for those affected by poverty and other hardships.

Veering away from the focus on religious demand and the needs of the ‘religious consumers’, market theory draws the attention to the religious supply (e.g. churches) which produces and markets religious products towards a specific clientele. Proponents of this perspective assert that the negligence of the lower classes by the Catholic Church as well as Pentecostal marketing strategies that exploit the social networks of members, contribute to the success of Pentecostalism in Latin America (Chesnut, 2003; Gill, 1994; Smilde, 2005). Furthermore, the shared class background of religious ‘suppliers’ and ‘consumers’ is paramount. As religious ‘consumption’ is likely to take place when religious ‘products’ appeal to the potential ‘consumers’, fitting to their socialised class-related preferences (see, for instance, Sherkat and Wilson, 1995), the cultural match between suppliers (pastors and proselytising members) and demand (potential affiliates), which is facilitated through a shared class background, fosters lower class affiliations with Pentecostal churches (Chesnut, 2003).

The Bourdieuian approach relates to this match between supply and demand, explaining the lower class appeal of Pentecostalism by its fit to the religious taste of Latin American lower classes. Popular religion, which refers to the most common patterns of religion among Latin America’s lower classes, reflects the religious taste of lower class Latin Americans (see, for instance, Ameigeiras, 2008; Parker, 1996; Semán, 2004). Pentecostalism accommodates the main elements of this taste (see, for instance, Semán, 2000): it imparts a holistic worldview and a strong belief in supernatural intervention in everyday life. Many Pentecostal practices such as glossolalia, faith healing and exorcisms are based on this belief and strive to alter the empirical reality through favourable supernatural intervention. Overcoming of members’ hardships is a frequent objective of the various spiritual practices (Koehrsen, 2015). Moreover, Pentecostal worship services assume a festive and emotional character; popular chants and intense prayers play an important role in establishing a highly expressive atmosphere (Anderson, 2004; Chesnut, 1997; Robbins, 2004). As the religious style of ‘mainstream’ Pentecostalism matches the popular religious taste, it particularly attracts lower class actors – those predisposed to this religious option.

In contrast to the lower class, Argentinean middle and upper classes are not only unlikely to share the religious predispositions towards Pentecostalism, they may even be inclined to seek distinction from the popular style of religion, as it denotes a lower class status (see, for instance, Algranti, 2010; Frigerio, 1998; Semán, 2004; Wynarczyk, 2009: 194–197). Only specific styles of Pentecostalism, clearly distinguishable from ‘mainstream’ Pentecostalism, may attract the middle class.

Empirical Findings: Religious Styles and Social Class in Argentinean Pentecostalism

Methods

The relationship between religion and social stratification was investigated in a research project on Pentecostalism in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Koehrsen, 2016, 2017). The field research consisted of several steps. The first explorative wave included participatory observations in numerous Pentecostal churches in the city and the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Research then focused on two Pentecostal churches applying a case study approach (Yin, 2009) with contrasting sampling along two criteria: first, location of the churches in urban middle class districts accessible to the lower and middle class; second, significantly divergent social composition, with each of the churches being composed mainly of lower or middle class actors. The analysis and comparison of the selected lower class (God Is Love/GIL) and middle class (Assembly of Christ/AOC) church is at the heart of the following case study.

In order to explore the religious style of both churches, ethnographic observations were carried out in a wide variety of church services and other congregational activities. Moreover, to compare the social composition of the two churches, a quantitative survey with a total number of 162 interviewees from both churches (75 members from GIL, 87 members from AOC) was conducted. Additionally, 16 narrative interviews with pastors and members were carried out in the two churches. Interviewees were asked about their biography, social and religious background, and their religious practice and taste. Furthermore, interviews included short video sequences showing the religious practices of different Pentecostal churches, particularly AOC and GIL. After watching the video sequences, interviewees were asked for their opinion. This technique converted the interview into an open laboratory, enabling interviewees to communicate likes and dislikes concerning specific styles of Pentecostalism. To ensure their anonymity, the names of the interviewees have been changed in this article.

The final step in the research process was to enlarge the sample of studied churches. In order to identify the particular style of middle class Pentecostalism, in comparison to its well-studied lower class counterpart, the research focused predominantly on congregations that recruit a significant proportion of middle class Pentecostals, exploring a total of 12 middle class congregations in and around Buenos Aires City.

‘Objective’ Class Differences

Despite their accessibility for different social classes, each of the two churches – AOC and GIL – tends to attract specific social sectors. Figure 1 shows the ‘objective’ social positions of members of both churches. The horizontal scale refers to the level of education starting from illiteracy and ending with a PhD degree. The vertical scale displays the level of household income per capita in Argentinean pesos.

Figure 1.

Social composition of GIL and AOC.

God Is Love recruits the majority of its approximately 400 active members from the lowest social ranks of Argentinean society: 81.33 per cent of the interviewed GIL members live with household incomes per capita lower than those of the average Argentinean (INDEC, 2015).¹ Also the level of formal education is lower than average: 82.8 per cent of the interviewed members have not finished secondary school, as compared to the overall 55.3 per cent of the Argentinean population and 78.47 per cent of Protestants (Conicet, 2008; INDEC, 2015).

In contrast, the majority of the 300–400 active members of AOC are from the middle and upper middle class. The level of education is above the national and Protestant average: while 21.63 per cent of Protestants in Argentina have finished secondary school (Conicet, 2008), in the case of the AOC, 63.2 per cent of the surveyed members hold secondary school degrees. Moreover, 75.87 per cent of the surveyed AOC members have higher household incomes per capita than the average Argentinean (INDEC, 2015).

For both churches, social networks form the most efficient factor for getting in touch with future members: two-thirds of AOC interviewees and almost half of GIL interviewees state that their first contact with their current church was through relatives, friends or acquaintances. This result aligns with other studies that underpin the role of social networks for affiliation with Pentecostal churches (Algranti, 2010; Chesnut, 2003; Martin, 1990; Míguez, 1998; Smilde, 2005, 2007).

Symbolic Class Differences

God Is Love

The observed branch in Flores is the central branch of the Brazilian Pentecostal church God Is Love (GIL) in Argentina. GIL’s style is marked by a rudimentary infrastructure and organisation, an emotional and expressive atmosphere and religious practices that seek an improvement of daily life.

The church building is sparsely decorated and has the appearance of an old industrial building, while the congregation’s organisational focus is on church services: it offers a vast array of church services each week to its members, whereas other types of organisational structures, such as educational courses, church groups and social projects, are absent. Pastor Jorge explains that the lack of a more encompassing organisational structure and sophisticated musical worship relates to the congregation’s emphasis on spiritual practices: ‘And what is happening in this congregation is that we are more dedicated to deliverance. This is why we place less emphasis on musical worship.’

Pentecostal practices seeking alleviation from daily suffering, like exorcism and faith healing, and a doctrine of spiritual warfare are predominant in church services. Accordingly, individuals with difficulties like poverty, illness, unemployment, alcoholism, domestic violence and drug addiction approach GIL in search of relief. Pastors frequently attend to these problems by conducting different forms of faith healing. These practices take place in an emotionally charged atmosphere, in which the pastors and the audience shout and speak in tongues, and the possessed scream.

With its emphasis on life-improvement and its under-developed infrastructure and organisation, the style of GIL resembles Bourdieu’s (1979) description of the lower class taste: a ‘taste of the necessary’, marked by pragmatism and functionalism. Religion therefore resembles a tool for the improvement of daily life. Everything else – that is, practices, organisation and infrastructure – is structured around this function and therefore receives less attention. Narrative interviews with GIL members underpin this: neither aesthetic affinities nor social acceptability inform the religious taste of those interviewed, which is instead shaped by a need for (faith) healing (see, for instance, Chesnut, 1997). For instance, Antonia, a GIL member, considers the church to provide intensive care (‘terapia intensiva’):

I view the church God Is Love as intensive care, it is an intensive care church. Because if you study and pay attention, there is no church where the Lord is doing so much faith healing […] I am speaking about cancer, about AIDS, about bones, about profound things.

GIL interviewees assess the quality of Pentecostal churches along the experienced presence of the Holy Spirit, which becomes, according to them, manifest in the deliverance from evil spirits. Pastor Mario states: ‘Primarily people come due to necessity, beceause often, most times, people come because of the miracle or the faith healing, or the diliverance that is what attracts them most.’

However, apart from being influenced by their needs – ‘taste of the necessary’ – interviewees also show a preference for an emotional and expressive religious practice, highlighting the joy that they feel in GIL church services. Watching video sequences of AOC worships, GIL members experience them, in contrast, as boring, unjoyful and lacking power. Matias, for instance, perceives the musical style of AOC as ‘tiring’ and its style of preaching as ‘intellectual’. He regards AOC as not providing sufficient space for divine miracles. The GIL’s lower class members’ rejection of the AOC video sequences indicates a religious taste that does not fit the religious style of the middle class church. Nevetheless, one particular video showing AOC’s most emotional practice, a praying session at the end of the church service, triggers approval among GIL interviewees. This approval points towards a partial overlap between the taste of GIL’s lower class members and AOC’s religious style and could be interpreted as an indicator for shared tastes among Pentecostals, regardless of their class backgrounds.

Assembly of Christ

The investigated branch of Assembly of Christ (AOC) is situated in the middle class neighbourhood of Villa Devoto. This congregation differs from other Pentecostal churches, not only with regard to its exceptional social composition, but also in its style. It offers a well-developed infrastructure and organisation to its members, and abstains from the expressiveness, emotionality and strong spiritual practices that characterise the movement.

In contrast to GIL, the church building was originally constructed as a church and provides a warmer atmosphere. Besides the ordinary Christian masses, the church supplies a range of different religious and secular services to members and non-members, including a vast array of church groups and educational courses, a kindergarten, Sunday school and a primary school. AOC is also engaged in social outreach projects (e.g. sending clothes and school equipment into Argentina’s poorer provinces).

Despite sharing the general belief in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, AOC abstains from many practices that involve the Holy Spirit, such as exorcisms, faith healing and speaking in tongues. AOC pastors Nicolás and Victor state that they discourage members from speaking in tongues and other spiritual practices in church services, portraying it as theologicaly erroneous to indulge in spiritual experiences rather than focusing on the ‘Word’:

And why do they vociferously speak in tongues in the churches, 20 or 30 people speaking in tongues? We, when it happens here […] we try to grab him at the end of the church service and we say to him: ‘Brother if you see that there is no interpretation, don’t speak!’ Because they focus on the experience. The dropping on the ground: what is God’s need to make them fall on the ground? I have the feeling that these are religious practices that deviate from the true purpose of a church service that is the worship of God and the preaching of the Word and the breaking of bread. (Pastor Victor)

Consequently, physical manifestations and experiences are not as present as in other Argentinean Pentecostal churches (see, for instance, Pew Research Center, 2014: 67). Instead of physical and emotional practices, AOC stresses a verbal, intellectual practice of religion through its emphasis on sermons. According to my observations, preachers speak in an unaccented, white-collar Spanish, frequently employ metaphors, and interpret the Bible in an almost theological fashion, sometimes making the sermons reminiscent of a university lecture.

Besides the sermon, high-quality musical praise with well-trained musicians playing different styles, ranging from classical music to pop-hymns, assumes a central role in AOC’s religious practice. Although musical praise offers a space for physical and emotional expression, the majority of the audience abstains from enthusiastically singing, clapping their hands or calling out. Isabela, an AOC member, reflecting on the unspoken behavioural standards in her church summarises it as follows: ‘Don’t sing too loud, you shouldn’t be too jubilant, you shouldn’t clap too much, you shouldn’t yell. It looks bad, you shouldn’t jump.’

Middle class interviewees from AOC usually communicate a taste for a quiet and less emotional style of Pentecostalism in church services. Luis, for instance, states: ‘I don’t like it when things get overly emotional, when faith becomes something emotional, I don’t like it.’ Watching video sequences from GIL, AOC members disapprove of its style; for example, Laura, upon watching a video of a GIL exorcism, states that the turmoil would lead non-Pentecostals to perceive them as insane: ‘It annoys me. Because if someone from outside comes in, he will say “they are mad” and he is right.’ Later in the interview, she explains that she affiliated with AOC because she felt that this church would offer less chance of feeling embarrassed when inviting friends to church services. Middle class Pentecostals worry about getting symbolically ‘downclassed’ by non-Pentecostal ‘outsiders’: being affiliated with a religious group that is regarded as lower class in Argentinean society (Algranti, 2010; Frigerio, 1998; Semán, 2004; Wynarczyk, 2009: 194–197), they run the risk of being thrown in one pot with the ‘overly emotional’, ‘superstitious’, ‘uncivilized’ and ‘untidy’ lower class (see, for instance, Adamovsky, 2009; Guano, 2004). As such, the representation that the congregation is providing to ‘outsiders’ in its usually openly accessible church services is crucial: the church service becomes a well-managed ‘front region’ (Goffman, 1959), that disguises non-conformance and is being enriched with features that are often associated with the Argentinean middle class – that is, focus on education, controlled behaviour, orderly structure, tidiness (Adamovsky, 2009; Svampa, 2005; Tevik, 2006).

While, in the front region, AOC appears to develop a religious style that endeavours to match the Argentinean middle class imaginary, AOC middle class members also deviate from this imaginary in their private religious practice (‘back region’): for instance, some members mention that they speak in tongues at home, but not in the church where they regard it as inappropriate. The separation between a private back region – in which members practise their unadapted religious tastes – and the controlled front region indicates a partial mismatch between the (unadapted) religious tastes of members and the religious style of AOC, challenging the above assumption of a fit between class-related religious tastes and styles, as will be further discussed below.

Competing Styles

The observed differences parallel general tendencies within South American Pentecostalism. The religious practice of many churches in the poorer districts of Buenos Aires resembles the style of GIL more closely than that of AOC (see, for instance, Algranti, 2010; Míguez, 1998; Semán, 2000). Small and medium sized churches that are, in contrast, shaped by a significant middle class membership display a different style: practices of exorcism and faith healing disappear; speaking in tongues is less pronounced (or even absent); the emphasis on miracles is weaker; and church services are less expressive (Koehrsen, 2016, 2017). Similar observations regarding middle class Pentecostalism have been made in the case of Brazil and Chile (Corten, 1995; Freston, 1997; Gooren, 2011; Martin, 1995, 2006). Put simply, the two class-related tendencies of Pentecostalism constitute competing styles, each of them setting their own standards for ‘legitimate’ Pentecostalism.

Contextualising Social Class: Social Networks, Social Adaptation and Contingency

A frequent criticism of Bourdieu’s sociology is determinism (see, for instance, Bennett et al., 2010: 27; Gartman, 1991: 422, 438; King, 2000: 427–430; Savage, 2003: 540–541). Focusing on social class, Bourdieu-based approaches often run the risk of limiting their explanations of social practice to class and becoming class-deterministic. To contextualise class, other factors that influence religious tastes and styles in the studied cases – such as (a) social networks, (b) the adaptation of individuals to ‘legitimate’ styles and (c) the class-deviations of individual tastes – are identified and discussed according to their implications for the approach and the relationship between social class and religion.

Two-thirds of AOC interviewees and almost half of the GIL interviewees were attracted to their current congregations via social networks.² In some cases, members even affiliated with their current church, despite initially disagreeing with its style: Alberto joined AOC because his new girlfriend/future wife was (and continues to be) a devoted member of the congregation when they started dating. Having never before had contact with a Pentecostal church, he experienced the AOC church services, at first, as ‘crazy’ and often left before the end. However, his continued relationship with his future wife and her repeated invitations to the church services meant that Alberto kept visiting the church. Over time, he himself became a devoted member of the congregation. This example indicates that the match between taste and style is not always decisive for the affiliation process and does not necessarily explain the class bias of the churches: given their homophily (McPherson et al., 2001), social networks might play a more important role in the class bias of the two churches than mere class-related tastes (see also Sherkat and Wilson, 1995).

Social networks are not only crucial for the affiliation process, but also for the performance of the church style, as they trigger alignment processes. Becoming affiliated with the church and participating regularly in its activities, new church members integrate into the social network of the church: in order to not lose fellow members’ recognition or even falling out of the supportive social networks of the congregation, members are likely to adapt their visible performances to the type of style that is considered legitimate within the church, even when not fully agreeing with it. In the case of Alberto, his relationship with his future wife and her family hinge on his participation within the congregation, as does his professional career, since he has received employment through the patronage of another church member. The importance of social alignment is also illustrated by AOC members who are dedicated to more expressive styles of Pentecostalism outside AOC (e.g. speaking in tongues at home), but avoid practising these in AOC church services. For instance, Isabela, a middle class member of AOC, states a preference for a more expressive style and criticises her church for being stiff:

Look, when someone says that he is Pentecostal he lets the power and the joy of the Holy Spirit flow […] I would say that here, at this church, Assembly of Christ, there is little flowing. I mean, it’s not because of the Holy Spirit. It’s just that people here are stiff, cardboard almost, very ‘I’m not going to open up, because the person next to me will look at me and say, “What’s wrong with you?”’ […] Why do they have to have their hands in their pockets, their mouths closed, […] with their foreheads and faces scrunched up?

Isabela reports an exercise of self-control in her church, in contrast to being more expressive when visiting other churches in the surroundings of Buenos Aires. Being inclined towards religious tastes that are regarded as inappropriate in middle class circles, these members adapt their performances in AOC’s church services to what is experienced as the legitimate style. Accordingly, a match between the individual taste and church style is not indispensable and seems to be even partially absent in many cases.

The aforementioned examples show that religious tastes, though often influenced by class, are not a bare function of social class. These cases parallel Bernhard Lahire’s (2006 [2004]) observation that deviations from expected ‘class-bias’ are frequent, as multiple – and sometimes conflicting – socialisation channels influence the individuals’ predispositions. Given that individual tastes constitute contingent products of actors’ socialisation processes, they may often deviate from expected class-related cultural patterns and therefore only partly explain the observed overlap between class and religion. However, even with religious tastes deviating from class patterns, social networks and alignment processes within churches appear to contribute to the reproduction of class-related styles that signal symbolic class boundaries within religion.

Conclusion

This article illustrates that religion itself can become a part of social class by creating (religious) status markers. It, thereby, touches upon the issue of what cultural features shape class boundaries in the 21st century. Focusing on how other cultural domains mould class identities (e.g. arts, food, media, music, sport), current class research tends to neglect religion (see, for instance, Bennett et al., 2010; Savage et al., 2013, 2015). However, as religion continues to shape the everyday life of billions of individuals all over the world (see, for instance, Berger, 1992; Davie, 2010), it is likely to have a stake in the drawing of symbolic class boundaries. Although in the sociology of religion, the topic has received more attention, existing studies on social class and religion often employ quantitative methods, stressing the demographic (‘objective’) dimension of class, while disregarding its symbolic dimension. Employing a Bourdieuian approach, the present contribution explores the symbolic dimension of class within the sphere of religion, suggesting that religious tastes and styles can serve as class markers.

Providing a framework for studying the entanglements of class and religion, the Bourdieuian approach offers various research perspectives. Further research could, for instance, carry out broader in-depth studies on religious tastes and styles of lower and middle classes. Profound research into this topic may reveal, besides typical class markers in the religious field, competing style-formations within each class that are related to particular class sections (Bourdieu, 1979: 128–138). Analogous to French research on the very wealthy (Pinçon and Pinçon-Charlot, 2010), the religion of the upper classes, which has, so far, been overlooked, could also be an intriguing candidate for a study of religious styles and tastes.

Nevertheless, engaging a Bourdieuian framework runs the risk of reading empirical variations only in terms of social class and overstating its influence on attitudes and practices. In the above Pentecostal congregations, social networks, the adaptation to legitimate styles and the individuality of actors’ tastes, intermingle with social class and shape the performances of actors. Taking these factors into account allows for a more critical study of the drawing of class boundaries. Above all, the observed differences between individual tastes and class-related styles shed a critical light on the supposed embodiment of class culture: rather than being fully incorporated in their habitus and unvaryingly present in the lives of the studied middle class actors, social class is performed in specific situations (middle class church services), playing a less important role in others (e.g. at home, lower class church services). In particular, when there is a disjunction between individual tastes and the expected class-related styles, social class, rather than being automatically reproduced, becomes a social ‘play’ on the ‘front region’ (Goffman, 1959), the ‘marchés tendus’ (Lahire, 2006 [2004]), in which actors negotiate their social recognition, seeking to adapt their visible performances to the legitimate style. The difference between predispositions and performances indicates the importance of the heuristic distinction between taste and style that was introduced at the beginning of the article. While styles are – knowingly or unknowingly – employed to mark social class belonging, tastes, though often stimulating the performance of class-related styles, might be less relevant for the drawing of symbolic class boundaries than Bourdieu’s habitus concept suggests, as actors may orientate their performances along those styles that are established as appropriate in the given situations (see, for instance, March and Olsen, 2009). Accordingly, even in the case of class-deviating tastes, the reproduction of class boundaries is ensured by the aligning effect of ‘legitimate’ styles.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the helpful remarks from Susanne Lemke, Helen Gilroy, Michelle Witen and the anonymous reviewers, as well as the constant support of Heinrich Schäfer, Nathalie Luca and the CIRRuS research group in this research project.

Funding

The research project was funded by doctoral research grants from the German National Academic Foundation and the Université franco-allemande, and by travel grants from the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology and the École Des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

Notes

Jens Koehrsen is an assistant professor for religion and economy at the Centre for Religion, Economy and Politics. He has received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Bielefeld and the École Des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). His research foci are the relationship between social class and religion, the role of religion in development, and the sociological study of sustainability transition processes.

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