Religious Ambivalence and the Problem of Agency
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RELIGIOUS AMBIVALENCE AND THE PROBLEM OF AGENCY A Qualitative Study on Cognitive Dissonance among Mormon Feminists Kristel Torgrimsson Sociologiska institutionen Magisteruppsats 15 hp Vt 2019 Abstract The scholarly field of traditionally religious women has during the last decade gone from a so called “paradox-approach” which identifies women’s agency with the capacity of acting autonomously – something most clearly demonstrated through acts of resistance – to a non- paradox approach defining agency as a continuum encompassing both resistance to and compliance with traditionally religious structures. While the latter approach assumes that women’s participation in traditional religions is not necessarily a paradox – mainly because some women value religious submission – this thesis argues that the paradox of women and religion becomes essential when speaking about religious feminism. This has proven particularly evident in this study’s Grounded theory approach to blog posts written by Mormon feminists. By combining theories on cognitive dissonance with religious ambivalence this thesis finds that Mormon feminist bloggers express an agency of virtuous ambivalence where they perceive the relationship between their faith and their feminism as dissonant but simultaneously describe this as an ambivalence of religious virtue which bestow upon them a sense of freedom, authenticity and creative potential. Key words: Agency, ambivalence, cognitive dissonance, Mormon feminists, blogging Table of Content 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Purpose and Research Questions ...................................................................................... 2 2. Delimitations .......................................................................................................................... 2 3. Disposition ............................................................................................................................. 3 4. Agency and Gender in Mormonism ....................................................................................... 4 4.1 Revelation and Agency ..................................................................................................... 4 4.2 LDS and Gender ............................................................................................................... 7 4.3 Mormon Feminism ........................................................................................................... 8 5. Scholarly Approaches to Agency among Traditionally Religious Women ......................... 10 5.1 The Paradox Approach ................................................................................................... 11 5.2 The Non-paradox Approach ........................................................................................... 12 5.3 Alternative Agency Approaches ..................................................................................... 13 5.4 Paradoxes in Religious Feminism .................................................................................. 14 6. Theory .................................................................................................................................. 16 6.1 Cognitive Dissonance ..................................................................................................... 16 6.2 Ambivalence as a Religious Virtue ................................................................................ 18 7. Method ................................................................................................................................. 20 7.1 Method of Sampling and Unit of Analysis ..................................................................... 22 7.2 Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 23 7.3 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................................... 25 8. Results .................................................................................................................................. 26 8.1 Cognitive Dissonance among Mormon Feminists .......................................................... 26 8.1.1 Cognitive dissonance ............................................................................................... 27 8.1.2 Feminist Awakenings .............................................................................................. 30 8.1.3 Ambivalence as a Religious Virtue ......................................................................... 36 8.2 Coping with dissonance .................................................................................................. 41 8.2.1 Changing Interpretations ......................................................................................... 42 8.2.2 Changes in Environment ......................................................................................... 46 8.2.3 Rejection .................................................................................................................. 49 8.2.4 Integration: Spiritual but Not Religious .................................................................. 50 9. Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 52 References ................................................................................................................................ 56 Appendix A: Model for Analysis ............................................................................................. 62 1. Introduction The participation of women in traditional religions is sometimes viewed as a paradox that requires explanation.1 To answer the question of why women adhere to religious traditions that work to their disadvantage, a great deal of scholarly efforts have been made to demonstrate how these women are more than merely doormats to their religions. They are, as many scholars argue, on the contrary agentive individuals who resist and who use their religion to empower themselves in both soulful and instrumental ways.2 During the last decade however, a growing critique has been directed toward this so called “paradox- approach” for its secular and western bias.3 By assuming that agency is synonymous to autonomy, freedom and resistance, the paradox approach neglects women who value religious submission and compliance.4 Contemporary scholars therefore define agency more broadly as the capacity to act, including both resistance to and compliance with religious structures. One group which has been attached to this discussion are women within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), also known as Mormons,5 whose doctrine has highly pronounced constraints regarding gender roles for men and women. Instead of describing them as either resisting or complying, scholars thus tend to create more “textured” definitions of agency where Mormon women draw from both their community and their selves in motivating their choices.6 Although this trend is valuable in that it urges scholars to tread more carefully when theorizing about Women’s agency in traditional religions, what is lost is the fact that many Mormon women, and especially those who are overtly resisting, feel ambivalent toward their religion – something which builds on the premises that there actually is a paradox between 1 Orit Avishai, Doing Religion in a Secular World. Women in Conservative Religions and the Question of Agency, Gender & Society, 22, 4, 2008, pp. 409-433. 2 Irit Koren, The Bride's Voice: Religious Women Challenge the Wedding Ritual, Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues,10, 2006, pp. 29-52; Linda B. Arthur, Deviance, Agency, and the Social Control of Women's Bodies in a Mennonite Community, NWSA Journal, 10, 2, 1998, pp. 75-99; Linda E. Brasher, Godly Women. Fundamentalism and Female Power, (London: Rutgers University Press, 1998); Sally K. Gallagher, Agency, Resources, and Identity. Lower-Income Women's Experiences in Damascus, Gender and Society, 21, 2, 2007, pp. 227-249. 3 Avishai, 2008. 4 Avishai, 2008; Catherine Brekus, Mormon Women and the Problem of Historical Agency, Journal of Mormon History, 37, 2, 2011; Phyllis Mack, Religion, Feminism, and the Problem of Agency: Reflections on Eighteenth- Century Quakerism, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2003, 29, 1, pp. 149-177; Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety. The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject, (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005). 5 Although it is important to distinguish the LDS church from other Mormon groups such as the Community of Christ, as well as to recognize that the LDS church officially rejects the term. 6 Amy Hoyt, Agency, Subjectivity and Essentialism within Traditional Religious Cultures: An Ethnographic Study of an American Latter-day Saint Community, PhD diss., Claremont Graduate University, 2007. 1 traditional religion and women’s emancipation.7 Also, whereas much research has been devoted to understand compliant individuals, Mormon women’s overt or public resistance, that is, actions intended by LDS women themselves as resistance, has with a few exceptions8 received less attention. 1.1 Purpose and Research Questions What interests me is therefore how Mormon feminists understand the relationship between these two seemingly paradox constituents of their identity