In Religion and Society in Latin America: Ambivalence and Advances, Peterson Anna discusses twelve books that address religion and society in Latin America. She argues that several studies conducted on religion and societies in Latin America have broadened scope that has included more diverse and personal relationships between religion, social control and social change. However, she maintains that these studies greatly rely on functional approaches to institutional and religious focal points. Additionally, she explains that these previous studies have tended to highly contextualize religion in the specific societies that they study to the extent of failing to recognize the theoretical approaches that consider religion as an independent phenomenon that is shaped by, and shapes the society.
Ethnomethodology refers to the theoretical perspective that believes that the normal social order of a society can be discovered through disrupting this order. Therefore, it seeks to disrupt the social norms to study how members of the society try to restore the same (George & Jeff pp. 354-402). This social perspective believes that human interaction cannot take place without a consensus, which is also assumed as part of the phenomena that holds the society together. Additionally, this theoretical perspective assumes that members of the society share the same norms and behavioral expectations that if broken can help in studying the reaction of the society to these broken norms. In her article, after reviewing works on Catholicism and Protestantism, Anna concludes that these studies have been inclined toward understanding the complexity and social roles of communities, religious institutions, ideas, and practice, but have failed to incorporate the theoretical approach such as ethnomethodology (Anna, pp. 249-50. Anna’s article helps in understanding this theoretical approach since she explains how social order and norms are shared among the society members on religious basis.
Works Cited:
Ritzer, George & Stepnisky, Jeff. Contemporary Sociological Theory And Its Classical Roots: The Basics: Fourth Edition. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2013. Print
Peterson, Anna. "Religion And Society In Latin America." Latin American Research Review 31.2 (1996): 236. Business Source Complete. Web. 9 Nov. 2013
