Item Detail
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27869
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0
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0
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English
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Saints in Zion, saints in Babylon : religious pluralism and the transformation of Mormon culture
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New Brunswick, New Jersey
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Rutgers University
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115
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Ph.D. Dissertation
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Item is a reprint of the author's Ph. D dissertaion originally submitted to the Graduate School (2001), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey in 2001.
"This work examines the construction and maintenance of religious identity and solidarity among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The LDS or Mormon church) in the United States. Specifically, this study explores how the constituent elements of Mormon identity and solidarity are fashioned as Mormons negotiate the demands of a larger society, and react to pressures created by the growth and geographic dispersion of Mormonism. The dissertation also describes the nature and extent of these constructions by contrasting Mormon life in Utah--where Mormons enjoy overwhelming numerical and cultural dominance--with places where Mormons are a tiny minority in the pluralistic milieux. The study is a comparative congregation study contrasting the construction of religious identity and solidarity in two Mormon parishes, or "wards." The first ward is in a locus of Mormon culture: a suburb of Salt Lake City that is over 90% Mormon. The second ward is in suburban New Jersey (49th among states in per capita Mormons) where less than .3% of the population is LDS. Contrasting these disparate wards reveals the processes of Mormon identity and solidarity construction in the nation's most and least Mormon places"--Page 4 of cover.