Eleventh International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This article examines the plausibility of two widely held (and deeply interconnected) narratives on the study of Pentecostalism in Latin America. Firstly, the narrative that Pentecostalism has represented a form of spiritual alternative (Garrard et al 2018) whose growth has been driven primarily through instability and inequality within the Latin American region. Secondly, that Pentecostalism, through its commitment to The Gospel of Prosperity (García-Ruiz & Michel 2014, Campos 2015, Lindhardt 2016) has paradoxically come to spread neoliberal values throughout the region (Martin 1990, Willaime 1999, Barker 2007, Burity 2013, Lindhardt 2013, Coleman & Lindhardt 2020). By exploiting data from the World Bank, the Latinobarómetro 2018 Survey and the Pew Research Center, in combination with methods of factor analysis and multilinear regression this paper hopes to shed light on the statistical viability of these two views. Ultimately, this paper will conclude that there is strong evidence to believe that Pentecostalism’s growth had been driven by economic instability and inequality. However, this paper will also maintain that there is little evidence that Pentecostalism is associated with more neoliberal values and that in fact being a Pentecostalist is significantly associated with holding views which are in conflict with neoliberalism.