Mormon-ish: Negotiating Religious Ambivalence Online

Reporting on responses from a survey of disaffected Mormons who utilize internet resources to manage feelings of distance from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this article explores the production of religious ambivalence online, arguing that ambivalence is not a default position for...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tobey, Kristen (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Oxford University Press 2022
In: Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 90, Issue: 2, Pages: 396-412
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Mormon Church / Online community / Ambivalence / Alienation / Religious identity / Religious socialization
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AG Religious life; material religion
KDH Christian sects
ZG Media studies; Digital media; Communication studies
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Summary:Reporting on responses from a survey of disaffected Mormons who utilize internet resources to manage feelings of distance from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this article explores the production of religious ambivalence online, arguing that ambivalence is not a default position for those too passive or afraid to leave, nor is it a failure of decisiveness or commitment. Rather, it is a produced religious mode that depends on robust socialization mechanisms to result in a strong sense of personal and collective identity. The online context enables, and indeed requires, an operationalization of religious ambivalence as both a socialization mechanism and a socialization outcome. Site users participate in a process of affective encapsulation, which both echoes and reshapes familiar Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tropes and practices and allows them to fashion a new understanding of Mormon identity with uncertainty at its center.
ISSN:1477-4585
Contains:Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfac030