I-2.1. A descriptive sociological approach
As apparent from the preceding dialectic, in studies of gender and religion one is easily
“positioned” by ideological, social, or cultural bias. How can the secular outsider avoid an approach colored by presumptions of what happens in a conservative religious community? How can the faithful insider avoid subjectivity and defensiveness? And how can those who left the faith for personal, familial, doctrinal, or institutional reasons adopt a balanced and more or less neutral view?
I am convinced the objective view of an impartial observer is possible. From my training, I approach the topic therefore as a descriptive sociologist, from a strictly observational perspective. I compel myself to keep a narrow focus on the data in order to reach the research objectives. These data are the words of Mormon women as they tell about their experiences and express their insights. Though I map from the literature the critical intertwining of religion and gender and the contentious relation between religion, gender, and feminism, I am not engaging in those debates. By the same token, this research does not intend to exert any influence on my respondents’ insights or conduct, but it takes, of course, due note of their feminist affirmations.
My research is still part of feminist research since it enhances knowledge about women’s lives. The very topic of “gender roles” in a religion such as Mormonism deals with male/female relations and the identification of women’s positions. The qualitative approach through interviews is meant to give ample voice to women, stimulate their responsiveness, and gain knowledge from their experiences and insights. I take an epistemological perspective by asking questions directly derived from my insider’s familiarity with Mormon women’s lives. In that sense my work applies feminist methodology.
8
This research, however, is not of the kind that defines feminist research as an approach that “exposes gender inequalities, empowers women, advocates for social change, and/or improves the status or material reality of women’s lives” (McHugh 2014, 137). For some, feminist methodology in the field of sociology has as one of its main principles “an emphasis on the transformation of patriarchy and the empowerment of women” (Cook &
Fonow 1986, 2). In my case, such a deliberate approach could be marred by bias and an activist agenda, in particular because of the known male-directed hierarchical structure of the Mormon church. Since, in the Mormon context, “feminism” and “feminists” are already loaded words (see 3.4.1), it was useful, and even ethical towards my respondents, not to frame my research as part of an explicit “liberating feminist” approach. I developed that sensitivity also from my personal experiences at BYU and the controversial position of “women studies” in the Mormon scholarly world. Nevertheless, the results and the discussion of the data amply demonstrate an overall feminist focus and also lay bare the problematic aspects my respondents experienced in a male-led church.
This qualitative research proceeds from field work through semi-structured interviews with thirteen Mormon women in Flanders selected through purposive sampling with maximal variation. The investigation does not concern a large-scale social phenomenon, but the complexity of individual lives explored through analysis of the data. The interviews are shaped not only by the themes which the analysis of the relevant literature lay bare, but also by variables inherent to the typical lived experience of Mormon women in Flanders.
I-2.2. Within a framework of structured ambivalence
I situate my research in the interpretive framework of structured ambivalence, i.e.,
“structurally created contradictions that are made manifest in interaction” (Connidis and McMullin 2002, 558) or, from a study on reactions to same-sex behaviors, defined as “the attitudinal outcome that arises when individuals are situated at the intersections of multiple socio-structural institutions that convey conflicting normative messages”
(Steele and Helmuth 2019, 423). The theory draws from the basic concept of sociological ambivalence described as the simultaneous conflicting feelings caused by the juxtaposition between contradictory values and expectations (Merton and Barber 1963;
see also Coser 1966). It includes key concepts of symbolic interaction—how patterns of interaction emerge, i.e., the “dynamic process in which people continually modify their behavior as a result of the interaction itself” (Lindsey 2015, 9).
Structured ambivalence has been applied in various fields, one of which is the relation between religion, gender, and family, when these three constructs exert contrasting pressures on actors (Bulanda 2011; Steele and Helmuth 2019). Because structured ambivalence maps the microlevel reactions of individuals into larger structural entities, it can account for a large quantity of data and their resultant complexities.
9 For this study, the theory of structured ambivalence appears most suitable as a descriptive scheme since Mormon women can encounter multiple contradictions in the realms where agentic behavior is required. I propose an adaptation and expansion of the framework into five constructs, based on the realms wherein Mormon women function.
Two constructs are conceptual—gender and religiousness1—and three social—family, church, and society. I will briefly preview what next chapters particularize:
- In Mormon doctrine gender is an “essential characteristic,” indiscernible from the biological trait of sex. “It forms the backbone of the habitus of Mormon cultures”
(Morrill 2014, 64).
- As a central tenet of the belief system, gender sets the boundaries for the heterosexual family as a social normative unit, with its own gendered obligations and expectations.
- The distinction between religiousness and church is needed to differentiate between the accentuated individual and the communal experiences in Mormonism. Both constructs can be potent agents of gender socialization.
- As to society, in particular for Mormons living outside the “Mormon Culture Region”
(Utah and parts of surrounding States), the construct of the “host society” (Flanders for our research) is an entity to deal with since church members do not isolate themselves.
This simultaneous membership in constructs with conflicting norms and traditions feeds ambivalence.
In each of the five constructs a number of factors play out (see Figure 1). Typical Mormon factors are explained in subsequent chapters. The analysis of interview data shows when and how respondents encounter structured ambivalence in each realm and when and how these constructs intersect, with gender as the overlaying gauge to assess agentic behavior.
1 I opted for religiousness as a more neutral term over religiosity. “The terms religiousness/religiosity are used interchangeably but often defined as an individual’s conviction, devotion, and veneration towards a divinity. However, in its most comprehensive use, religiosity can encapsulate all dimensions of religion, yet the concept can also be used in a narrow sense to denote an extreme view and over dedication to religious rituals and traditions. This rigid form of religiosity in essence is often viewed as a negative side of the religious experience, it can be typified by an overinvolvement in religious practices which are deemed to be beyond the social norms of one’s faith” (Gallagher and Tierney 2013, 1653-1654).
10
An example can demonstrate how structured ambivalence confronts a Mormon woman with contradictions and choices determined by the exigencies and ambiguities of one or more constructs. For Mormons, the religious commandment of “Sabbath day observance” means attending church on Sunday and spending the rest of the day quietly with the family, shunning outside entertainment, shopping, dining out, attending events, and paid labor. The Sabbath commandment, as a sacred obligation, is a factor in the construct of religiousness. One of the vignettes presented to each respondent runs as follows:
The following problem arises in a family. Myriam, one of the children, 9 years old, is invited to a birthday party of a schoolmate in a non-Mormon family, but it is on a Sunday afternoon. Myriam is quite excited to have been invited. The parents discuss it among themselves first. The mother thinks that the girl should be allowed to go because she is already having trouble making friends at school and this is a great opportunity to feel integrated. The father thinks that it is better not to accept the invitation because, according to him, the children must learn what it means to honor the Sabbath, which sometimes requires sacrifice. How would you assess such a situation?
Here the respondent is confronted with a common situation in areas with few Mormons and where a child would be the only Mormon in her class or even in the whole school. The vignette suggests several conflicting postures related to each construct. It depends on the respondent to what extent she will raise and discuss the following aspects.
11 - Religiousness. Can one break a religious commandment for a positive societal benefit
for the child? But would allowing the child to go to the party not undermine her respect for sacred principles and feed relativization? Conversely, would obliging the girl to obey the Sabbath commandment foster her dedication to religion or rather her resentment against it? Would one or both parents shift the choice to the girl,
burdening her with the dilemma and perhaps with guilt if she chooses to go to the party?
- Family. How would the wife handle the difference of opinion with her husband? Does the father’s authority prevail viewed from his “presiding role” in the family or does
“equal partnership” require consensus? If the child is not allowed to go to the party, how will each parent mitigate the potential conflict with the child? Would the mother disclose to the child that for her the party is OK, but that dad is the one who decides?
- Church. Would one parent suggest consulting another church member for advice, deferring agency to someone else? Or would one or both parents worry about congregational judgmentalism—what other church members would say if the girl is allowed to go to the party? In order to avoid this problem, would they say to the child:
“You can go, but don’t tell anyone in church”? But would that not promote unhealthy secretiveness? Or would the decision not to go to the party provide an opportunity to tell in church how steadfast the girl and the family honor the Sabbath?
- Society. Since societal acceptance is important to Mormons, would declining the party invitation not lead outsiders to identify and marginalize Mormons as bigoted
believers whose fundamentalism deprives a child of a birthday party? Genderwise, this situation affects the mother in particular as she is the contact person with other mothers of schoolchildren. Is it then not better to accept the party invitation, in contradiction to what religiousness dictates, but in harmony with good public
relations? Or, to save the Sabbath, could a non-religious excuse be used to decline the invitation? But that would be lying. That reaction would be a fitting application of symbolic interaction: actively adapt perceptions to the situation.
In all of these considerations, “ambivalence becomes a manifestation of contradictions which stem from social actors’ transactional engagement with others” (Hillcoat and Phillips 2011, 206). The gendered dimension is ostensible in the difference of opinion between the parents and how a decision will be reached, but all of the other considerations also challenge the respondent’s opinion on woman’s agency and status in the different constructs. Whatever opinion she voices or decisions she would take or accept in this and similar conundrums, a pattern of agentic identity, especially here for a Mormon mother, is likely to emerge—from fundamentalist, deferential, cautious, undecided, frustrated, compromising, liberal, noncompliant, to provocative. Hers is the challenge to disentangle the dilemmas inherent in structured ambivalence. Symbolic
12
interaction explicates the latitude the agent has to act out her role according to the construct: what is fitting in one context may not be in another. It can also illuminate why the respondents in my research mention changes in their convictions over time.
I-2.3. Implication of sociological categories
Structured ambivalence makes structure and agency core sociological categories used in this research.
Structure is habitually viewed as constraining, all the more when it pertains to a strict religion that imposes its prescriptions on adherents. But as Giddens (1979) exposed, structure is not monolithic and static. It exists in time. Its complexity stems from the dynamics of social life where every individual can experience over time the conditions and consequences of participation. The scope of that experience leads to what Giddens calls “the dialectic of control in collectivities” (p. 6). In that sense structure is not only constraining but also enabling by allowing agency to act and react. This concept of
“enabling constraints” feeds the creativity of social actors.
The example provided above on the Sunday birthday party illustrates how much the actors rely on past, present, and future perspectives to apply their agency in cases of structured ambivalence where choices have to be made between the demands of competing structures.
This understanding of agency in a diachronic perspective ties in with Emirbayer and Mische’s (1998) analysis of human agency
as a temporally embedded process of social engagement, informed by the past (in its habitual aspect), but also oriented toward the future (as a capacity to imagine alternative possibilities) and toward the present (as a capacity to contextualize past habits and future projects within the contingencies of the moment). The agentic dimension of social action can only be captured in its full complexity, we argue, if it is analytically situated within the flow of time. (p. 963)
It also explains why the narrative, as exemplified by the use of vignettes, becomes an intrinsic part of probing the respondents’ relations to structure and agency. Vignettes address imagination which allows wandering back to past experiences and projecting what the consequences of alternative choices could be.
The structures themselves, family, gender, religion, and society in its civil meaning are essential parts of the research framework.
As to other sociological categories, the factors considered in the constitution of the sample of respondents, such as age, race, civil status, or sexual orientation are part of the effort to obtain maximal variation.
Categories are helpful, but can also be misleading. There is a risk that aspects of Mormonism are misunderstood because certain traditional categories pre-structure one’s
13 view of how religion operates. For example, the binary that opposes material and spiritual realities does not work adequately in Mormonism. Mormon doctrine posits that all spirit is matter, that God is tangible, and the hereafter physical. The same caution is required for a central concept such as agency which in Mormonism is often connected with the principle of “personal revelation.” In that sense the study of certain religions in certain spaces requires the creation of appropriate sociological categories (Morello 2019).
I-2.4. Objectives and research questions
This dissertation studies how a number of Mormon women in Flanders perceive their roles amid gendered doctrines and practices. The concept of gender roles pertains to functions that are viewed as typically masculine or feminine and determine expected attitudes and behavior. The concept applies not only to familial and educational patterns and to maternal and paternal roles, but especially, within the Mormon context, to personal religiousness, to hierarchical relations and priesthood authority, to theological and eschatological perspectives, and to the relation with the surrounding society. It extends to the situation of singles and of LGBTQ individuals.
This research intends to lead to an understanding of how these women identify or negotiate their place in a church of American origin, perceived as religiously patriarchal and socially androcentric, and in their own Flemish cultural environment. The latter means not only a strongly secularized society but also one that tends to be skeptical or apprehensive of a peculiar minority religion such as Mormonism. In such a field of potential tensions between divergent forces, the analysis aims at delineating how mechanisms of identity representation function and how women maintain cognitive consistency or cope with cognitive dissonance.
The study hopes to contribute to the study of the relation between gender and religion and to the appreciation of sociocultural diversity in the realm of religion.
Research questions
The following are the generic research questions—which for the field work are converted into more concrete questions and vignettes.
- Gender-focused. How do the subjects understand and interpret Mormon gendered doctrine and its effect on their status as women and their agency?
- Religiousness-focused. How do the subjects assess and enact their status as to faith and spiritual rights compared to men? How do possible developments in religiousness affect that status?
- Family-focused. Inasmuch as they may be or may feel encumbered by male dominance,
how do the subjects use their agency in the familial context?
14
- Church-focused. Inasmuch as they may be or may feel encumbered by male dominance,
how do the subjects use their agency in the church context, including perceived differences with “the church in Utah”?
- Society-focused. How do the subjects view their relation with the host society, in particular on gender-related issues such as in education and employment, or in dating and marriage?
I-2.5. What is novel in this research
The non-American and localized perspective. Nearly all studies on Mormon women deal with their situation in the US, in particular in Utah and parts of neighboring states. Living in areas with a majority Mormon population, with its own deep-rooted traditions, these women have limited experience with a different cultural environment in which they would be a tiny minority or be considered a potentially harmful cult. Sociologists consider church members in this “Mormon Culture Region,” also called “Deseret Mormons,”1 as an ethnic group sui generis, with its own socio-cultural characteristics, different from Mormons elsewhere (Phillips and Cragun 2011; Toney, Keller, and Hunter 2003).
Moreover, the particular American religious landscape and the strong conservative undercurrents that kindle the debates around equal rights for women in the US form a specific geopolitical background.
In contrast, studies on Mormon women in other parts of the world, where their situation as a tiny minority is substantially different, are still very rare. My research converges on Mormon women in Flanders—a virgin field for investigation. As these women have never lived in a holistic Mormon environment but are imbedded in their local “Belgian” or “Flemish” culture, their perception of gender roles is expected to differ from perceived “Deseret” standards, notwithstanding the construction of gender roles through worldwide identical church doctrines, organization, curriculum, and rituals.
The inclusion of converts. In nearly all studies on gender roles in Mormonism, the female subjects are typically “lifers”—born and raised in Mormon families, mostly multi-generational. They are predominately white and middle class educated women. From their earliest age on, they have been socialized into expected gender roles, and many next encountered tensions or conflicts directly related to their education and their religious environment.
In my research, however, the target group is quite different and typical for peripheral areas where Mormonism is still very limited. Seven of the thirteen respondents are converts to Mormonism, two as teenagers and the others at different adult ages, with an
1 From a word in the Book of Mormon. “Deseret” refers to a honeybee. The beehive became the emblem of the State of Utah.