Work and ideology in the Maya Highlands of Guatemala: economic beliefs in the context of occupational change

Although there are a few exceptions, the data from a survey taken in the Maya highlands of Guatemala suggest that occupation and economic belief systems are related even when religion is held constant, but that religion and economic beliefs are not related when occupation is held constant. There are several ways of interpreting these data. At the most extreme level, one could argue that religious conversion is irrelevant to the changes in these aspects of ideology. At a less extreme level, one could argue that both religious conversion and occupation are important in influencing economic conceptions of accumulation, wealth, and work. The infusion of Protestantism over the last 30 years may have created an atmosphere which might have encouraged some individuals to seek new occupations, given diminished land and resources. Once these occupations were pursued, the economic beliefs became more crystallized and differentiated as a function of variation in occupation.