Item Detail
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12614
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3
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0
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English
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Kings, Queens, and Covenants : An Analysis of Male and Female Conversion and Integration into a Mormon Polygynous Community
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University of Utah
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Ph.D. diss.
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"This study explores the factors determining successful convert integration in a contemporary Mormon polygynous society. Based on a four-year analysis of conversion and integration experiences, it was found that males and females generally differ in their motivations to join the group and their strategies in the kingdom-building process. Males are primarily drawn to the ideological prerogatives of higher priesthood status and the relative freedom in the pursuit of fundamentalist gospel practices and interpretations not found in the Mormon Church. Once baptized, males experience harsh competitive obstacles and become alienated by the system. Females seek improved socioeconomic status for themselves and their children and an escape from their marginalized status in the mainstream Church. In the polygynous group women experience rapid assimilation, autonomy, and upward mobility. The overall results of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the conversion/commitment process show that this particular Mormon-offshoot patriarchal community is advantageous to women and disadvantageous to men." [Author's abstract]