From socialization to individualization: a new challenge for Portuguese religiosity

Abstract

Catholic Christianity, the official religion of Portugal, has always played a central role in the formation of Portuguese religious identity, offering a medium through which people could express their beliefs collectively. In the last decades, however, and especially during the recent socio-economic crisis, Portuguese religiosity is going through a process of individualization, where new forms of spirituality have become an active part of people’s everyday religious practice. Based on ethnographic field research in Lisbon, this article investigates the new challenge Portuguese religiosity has to face, while it gradually becomes disengaged from religious tradition, namely Catholicism, as it is learned through core social institutions (family, school), and moves towards non-denominational trajectories. It furthermore shows how, through this process of individualization, traditional religious webs and ties are rendered obsolete, while a novel form of spiritual socialization is developed.