This project supports the dissertation research of a student in cultural anthropology. The project is to examine the social conditions under which evangelical Protestantism and "progressive" Catholicism have flourished to challenge the long- dominant folk Catholicism in a proletarianizing peasant village in Mexico. The project will assemble longitudinal data on socio- economic class, organizational resources, doctrines, political practices and beliefs of members of the three religious groups. Methods include survey, genealogical interviewing, detailed life histories, interviews with government and religious leaders, archival research and participant observation. The main question to be dealt with is the relation of religious affiliation to changes in socio-economic class position. This research is important because religious change is a striking fact of life in Latin America, and increased understanding of the conditions and consequences of this change will help us deal with the changing sectors of these societies.
