When Sects Become Middle Class: Impression Management among Middle-Class Pentecostals in Argentina

Sect-to-church theory assumes that sects will become more church-like as members’ socioeconomic status improves. By abandoning tension-related characteristics, they decrease the level of tension with their social environment. Studying Pentecostal middle-class congregations in Argentina, this article shows that the reduction of tension involves impression management: the studied middle-class congregations display middle-class features (e.g., educational training) and selectively shield tension-related practices (e.g., glossolalia) from the glances of non-Pentecostal peers. Instead of abandoning tension-related practices to reduce tension, middle-class congregations strategically adjust their religious practices depending on the extent to which these are accessible for relevant outsiders, switching between sect-like and church-like styles of religion.