The richness of ordinary life

Religious justification among Chile's business elite

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4372015
AutoresAngélica Thumala Olave (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen40
Número1
Páginas14-26
Fecha de publicación2010-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReligion (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0048-721X • E-ISSN: 1096-1151
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1016/j.religion.2009.04.011
OpenAlexW1979275340
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas36

Based on the analysis of 75 in‐depth interviews with managers and businessmen of Chile's main economic conglomerates, this article is concerned with the justification, on religious and moral grounds, of the establishment of a neo‐liberal economic model during Augusto Pinochet's regime (1973–1989) and, most importantly, with the representation of business as a religious vocation. The value granted to wealth creation as a path to salvation, as formulated by the conservative religious movements Opus Dei and the Legionaries of Christ, is one possible response to the Church's call in Vatican II for the greater involvement of the laity in their cultures and societies. In the context of an increase in pluralism during the 1960s and 1970s, the perceived shift of the Catholic Church to the Left, and the threat that the political project of Salvador Allende's socialist government (1970–1973) posed to the elite's centenary lifestyle, the practice of more conservative forms of Catholicism has allowed for a restoration of the historical bond between the elite and its religious tradition. The case of Chile's elite can be seen as an example of an increase in pluralism which does not lead to a weakening of religious belief and practice, but to their strengthening

Economics · Elite · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Religion and Society in Latin America · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development