Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Action As Social Change Through A Process Of Insulation, Leonard Siegfred Nelson

Dissertations and Theses

This study has attempted to investigate the radical change in the Greater Portland Council of Churches’ (GPCC’s) organizational goals and actions--from its relative uninvolvement over to its preoccupation with local social, political and economic issues. In the past, classical sociological theory of religion has placed great emphasis on religion’s integrative, or conservative functions in society. Empirical studies have documented the conservative socio-political views of the majority of Protestant parishioners. Knowing this, I expected to find a significant conservative reaction swelling up from the lay parishioners of the GPCC's member congregations. A preliminary investigation revealed this assumption to be invalid. The …