THE CONSTRUCTION OF POLITICO-RELIGIOUS NARRATIVES: STEPS TOWARD INTERVENTION PROMOTING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY

“Without an understanding of religion in American life, an understanding of community in American life remains incomplete” (Pargament & Maton, 2000, p. 515). In America, however, religion intertwines with politics, often creating ideological controversy and political deadlock. We investigated on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of community psychology Vol. 41; no. 4; pp. 446 - 462
Main Authors Swift, Dylan, Dokecki, Paul R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2013
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Community development
Grounded theory
Ideology
Narratives
Politics
Religion
Social psychology
United States > US
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Summary:“Without an understanding of religion in American life, an understanding of community in American life remains incomplete” (Pargament & Maton, 2000, p. 515). In America, however, religion intertwines with politics, often creating ideological controversy and political deadlock. We investigated one of the underlying contributors to America's current ideological controversy, namely, values as manifest in the politico‐religious narratives people construct to help give meaning to their lives. The first author spent several months as a participant‐observer in a rural southeastern community, intensely experiencing community life, and keeping extensive field notes. Semistructured in‐depth and group interviews, analyzed using grounded theory and supplemented by theoretical accounts of morality/religion and politics, provided data for developing a theoretical model of narrative construction. We found (a) beliefs, (b) moral and religious values, and (c) emotional sentiments to be the major politico‐religious narrative elements and discussed implications for community psychology intervention in pursuit of human development and community.
Bibliography:ArticleID:JCOP21549
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This article is based, in part, on a master's thesis written by the first author under the supervision of the second. The research reported here was an aspect of a major 3‐year participant‐observer field research project conducted by Vanderbilt University's Center for the Study of Religion and Culture.
ISSN:0090-4392
1520-6629
DOI:10.1002/jcop.21549