Gendered and genderless constructions of religious identity in a Charismatic community of practice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.34739Keywords:
identity construction, religious community of practice, self-presentation strategiesAbstract
A plethora of studies that account for the differential use of language by men and women have explained why such differences exist from the standpoint of Deficit, Dominance and Difference models, emphasising male and female dichotomy or male domination over women. The present study aims at filling a gap in language and gender research by underpinning its analysis with a social constructionist paradigm which views language and its interaction with the community of practice (CofP) as the conduits in shaping identity and by locating the context of the study inside a religious CofP. Our analyses indicated that the members of a Charismatic religious community share common selfpresentation strategies when constructing their identities, rejecting the dualism that distinguishes male and female language. Both males and females in our study have the same tendencies in using Supplication, Intimidation, Admitting Mistakes, Apology and Excuse in the narration of their Old life and Exemplification and Burnishing in the characterisation of their New life. However, the same respondents also exhibited differential use of tactics that also bolster previous findings on gender order. The interlocking relations of language, identity (religious or social) and gender are mutually constructed and negotiated constantly in a community of practice which is influenced by cultural and religious practices.
References
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Forsyth, Donelson, Schlenker, Barry, Leary, Mark and McCown, Nancy (1985) Self-presentational determinants of sex differences in leadership behavior. Small Group Behavior 16: 197–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/104649648501600205
Francis, Leslie, Louden, Stephen and Robbins, Mandy (2013) Catholic and Charismatic: a study in personality theory within Catholic congregations. Religions 4: 267–82. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel4020267
Go, Mikhail and Gustilo, Leah (2013) Tagalog or Taglish: the lingua franca of Filipino urban factory workers. Philippine ESL Journal 10: 57–87.
Goffman, Erving (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday and Company.
Goffman, Erving (1967) Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face to Face Behaviour. New York: Doubleday and Company.
Griffith, R. Marie (1997) God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057369905600124
Guadagno, Rosanna and Cialdini, Robert (2007) Gender differences in impression management in organisations: a qualitative review. Sex Roles 56: 483–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9187-3
Gustilo, Leah (2006) Self-presentation in Filipino personal home pages: an analysis of contextual dimensions and expressive resources of a computer–mediated communication. Dissertation, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.
Gustilo, Leah (2007) Language and self-presentation: a linguistic analysis of Filipino personal home pages. Philippine Journal of Linguistics 38: 39–63.
Hall, Stuart (2000) Who needs identity? In Paul Du Gay, Jessica Evans and Peter Redman (eds) Identity a Reader 15–30. London: Sage/Open University.
Heatherington, Laurie, Burns, Andrea and Gustafson, Timothy (1998) When another stumbles: gender and self-presentation to vulnerable others. Sex Roles 38: 889–913. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1018866307680
Hocken, Peter (2009) The Challenges of the Pentecostal, Charismatic and Jewish Movements: The Tensions of the spirit. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315614427
Holmgreen, L.-L. (2009). Metaphorically speaking. Gender and Language 3(1): 1–32.
Jespersen, Otto (1922) Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin. London: Allen & Unwin.
Jocano, Landa (1997) Filipino value system: A cultural definition. Quezon City: Punlad Research House.
Jones, Edward and Pittman, Thane (1982) Toward a general theory of strategic self- presentation. In Jerry Suls (ed.) Psychological Perspectives on the Self 231–62. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kasomo, Daniel (2010) An assessment of Catholic Charismatic renewal towards peaceful co-existence in the Roman Catholic Church. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology 2: 171–7.
Labov, William (1972) The transformation of experience in narrative syntax. In William Labov (ed.) Language in the Inner City 354–96. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124167600400410
Lakoff, Robin T. (1975) Language and Woman’s Place: Text and Commentaries. New York: Harper & Row.
Leszczynska, Katarzyna and Zielinska, Katarzyna (2016) Gender in religion? Religion in gender? Commentary on theory and research on gender and religion. Studia Humanistyczhe AGH Contributions to Humanities 15(3): 7–17. https://doi.org/10.7494/human.2016.15.3.7
Lewis, Melissa and Neighbors, Clayton (2005) Self-determination and the use of self-presentation strategies. The Journal of Social Psychology 145: 469–89. https://doi.org/10.3200/socp.145.4.469-490
Moulin, Daniel (2013) Negotiating and constructing religious identities. Retrieved from www.religiouseducation.net/rea2013/files/2013/07/Moulin.pdf.
Nucci, Allesandra (2013) The Charismatic renewal and the Catholic Church. Retrieved from www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/2269.
Owens, Timothy J. (2003) Self and identity. In John Delamater (ed.) Handbook of Social Psychology 205–32. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Oyserman, Daphna, Elmore, Kristen and Smith, George (2012) Self, self-concept and identity. In Mark Leary and June Price Tangney (eds) Handbook of Self, Self-concept, and Identity 69–102. New York: Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470998519.ch23
Sadler, Michael, Hunger, Jeffrey and Miller, Christopher (2010) Personality and impression management: mapping the multidimensional personality questionnaire onto 12 self-presentation tactics. Retrieved from www.journals.elsevier.com/personality-and-individual-differences.
Scott, Marvin and Lyman, Stanford (1968) Accounts. American Sociological Review 33: 46–62.
Tannen, Deborah (1990) You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York: Bantam.
Tannen, Deborah (1999) The Argument Culture: Stopping America’s War of Words. New York: Ballantine Books.
Tedeschi, James and Lindskold, Svenn (1976) Social Psychology: Interdependence, Interaction and Influence. New York: Wiley.
Timbreza, Florentino (2003) Filipino Values Today. Navotas City: National Book Store.
Wenger, Etienne (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Woodhead, Linda (2006) Gender differences in religious practice and significance. Travail, Genre et Societies 1(27): 33–54.
Aune, Kristin (2008) Evangelical Christianity and women’s changing lives. European Journal of Women’s Studies 15 (3): 277–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506808091508
Bolino, Mark and Turnley, William (2003) More than one way to make an impression: exploring profiles of impression management. Journal of Management 29: 141–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920630302900202
Brasher, Brenda (1998) Godly Women: Fundamentalism and Female Power. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/3169917
Breakwell, Glynis, Hammond, Sean Martin, Fife-Schaw, Chris and Smith, Jonathan (2000) Research Methods in Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Brusco, Elizabeth E. (1995) The Reformation of Machismo: Evangelical Conversion and Gender in Colombia. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700747-12341351
Bucholtz, Mary and Hall, Kira (2005) Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies 7: 585–614. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407
Butler, Judith. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
Chaplin, Tara. M. (2015) Gender and emotion expression: a developmental contextual perspective. Emotional Review 7: 14–21.
Charteris-Black, Jonathan and Seale, Clyve (2009) Men and emotion talk: evidence from the experience of illness. Gender and Language 3: 81–113. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v3i1.81
Cialdini, Robert (1989) Indirect tactics of image management: beyond basking. In Robert Giacalone, Paul Rosenfeld and Catherine Riordan (eds) Impression Management in Organizations 56–9. New York: Routledge.
Cialdini, Robert, Borden, Richard, Thorne, Avril, Walker, Marcus Randall, Freeman, Stephen and Sloane, Lloyd Reynolds (1976) Basking in reflected glory: three (football) field studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 34: 366–75. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.34.3.366
Coates, Jennifer (2003) Men Talk. USA: Blackwell Publishing.
Creswell, John (2007) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.1086/317417
Csordas, Thomas (2007) Global religion and the re-enchantment of the world: the case of Catholic renewal. Sage Publication 7: 295–314. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463499607080192
DeBerg, Betty A. (1990) Ungodly Women: Gender and the First Wave of American Fundamentalism. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/97.5.1607
De Fina, Anna (2007) Code-switching and the construction of ethnic identity in a community of practice. Language in Society 36: 371–92.
De Fina, Anna, Schiffrin, Deborah and Bamberg, Michael (2006) Discourse and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926507085059
de Gasquet, Be?atrice. 2010 The barrier and the stained-glass ceiling: analyzing female careers in religious organizations, Sociologie Du Travail 52: 22–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soctra.2010.06.002
Dubrin, Andrew (2011) Impression Management in the Workplace: Research, Theory and Practice. New York: Routledge.
Eckert, Penelope and McConnell-Ginet, Sally (1992) Communities of practice: where language, gender, and power all live. In Kira Hall, Mary Bucholtz and Birch Moonwomon (eds) Locating Power 1–11. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eckert, Penelope and McConnell-Ginet, Sally (1999) New generalization and explanations in language and gender research. Language in Society 28: 185–201. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404599002031
Ecklund, Elaine Howard (2006) Organizational culture and women’s leadership: a study of six Catholic parishes. Sociology of Religion 67(1): 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/67.1.81
Fishman, Pamela (1983) The work women do. In Barrie Thorne, Cheris Kramarae and Nancy Henley (eds) Language, Gender, and Society 89–101. Rowley, MA. Newbury House. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0008413100010276
Fobes, Catherine (2004) Maintaining the gender order: using women, preferring men in an Episcopal campus chapel 1927–1949. Review of Religious Research 46 (1): 72–87. https://doi.org/10.2307/3512254
Forsyth, Donelson, Schlenker, Barry, Leary, Mark and McCown, Nancy (1985) Self-presentational determinants of sex differences in leadership behavior. Small Group Behavior 16: 197–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/104649648501600205
Francis, Leslie, Louden, Stephen and Robbins, Mandy (2013) Catholic and Charismatic: a study in personality theory within Catholic congregations. Religions 4: 267–82. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel4020267
Go, Mikhail and Gustilo, Leah (2013) Tagalog or Taglish: the lingua franca of Filipino urban factory workers. Philippine ESL Journal 10: 57–87.
Goffman, Erving (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday and Company.
Goffman, Erving (1967) Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face to Face Behaviour. New York: Doubleday and Company.
Griffith, R. Marie (1997) God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057369905600124
Guadagno, Rosanna and Cialdini, Robert (2007) Gender differences in impression management in organisations: a qualitative review. Sex Roles 56: 483–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9187-3
Gustilo, Leah (2006) Self-presentation in Filipino personal home pages: an analysis of contextual dimensions and expressive resources of a computer–mediated communication. Dissertation, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.
Gustilo, Leah (2007) Language and self-presentation: a linguistic analysis of Filipino personal home pages. Philippine Journal of Linguistics 38: 39–63.
Hall, Stuart (2000) Who needs identity? In Paul Du Gay, Jessica Evans and Peter Redman (eds) Identity a Reader 15–30. London: Sage/Open University.
Heatherington, Laurie, Burns, Andrea and Gustafson, Timothy (1998) When another stumbles: gender and self-presentation to vulnerable others. Sex Roles 38: 889–913. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1018866307680
Hocken, Peter (2009) The Challenges of the Pentecostal, Charismatic and Jewish Movements: The Tensions of the spirit. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315614427
Holmgreen, L.-L. (2009). Metaphorically speaking. Gender and Language 3(1): 1–32.
Jespersen, Otto (1922) Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin. London: Allen & Unwin.
Jocano, Landa (1997) Filipino value system: A cultural definition. Quezon City: Punlad Research House.
Jones, Edward and Pittman, Thane (1982) Toward a general theory of strategic self- presentation. In Jerry Suls (ed.) Psychological Perspectives on the Self 231–62. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kasomo, Daniel (2010) An assessment of Catholic Charismatic renewal towards peaceful co-existence in the Roman Catholic Church. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology 2: 171–7.
Labov, William (1972) The transformation of experience in narrative syntax. In William Labov (ed.) Language in the Inner City 354–96. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124167600400410
Lakoff, Robin T. (1975) Language and Woman’s Place: Text and Commentaries. New York: Harper & Row.
Leszczynska, Katarzyna and Zielinska, Katarzyna (2016) Gender in religion? Religion in gender? Commentary on theory and research on gender and religion. Studia Humanistyczhe AGH Contributions to Humanities 15(3): 7–17. https://doi.org/10.7494/human.2016.15.3.7
Lewis, Melissa and Neighbors, Clayton (2005) Self-determination and the use of self-presentation strategies. The Journal of Social Psychology 145: 469–89. https://doi.org/10.3200/socp.145.4.469-490
Moulin, Daniel (2013) Negotiating and constructing religious identities. Retrieved from www.religiouseducation.net/rea2013/files/2013/07/Moulin.pdf.
Nucci, Allesandra (2013) The Charismatic renewal and the Catholic Church. Retrieved from www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/2269.
Owens, Timothy J. (2003) Self and identity. In John Delamater (ed.) Handbook of Social Psychology 205–32. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Oyserman, Daphna, Elmore, Kristen and Smith, George (2012) Self, self-concept and identity. In Mark Leary and June Price Tangney (eds) Handbook of Self, Self-concept, and Identity 69–102. New York: Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470998519.ch23
Sadler, Michael, Hunger, Jeffrey and Miller, Christopher (2010) Personality and impression management: mapping the multidimensional personality questionnaire onto 12 self-presentation tactics. Retrieved from www.journals.elsevier.com/personality-and-individual-differences.
Scott, Marvin and Lyman, Stanford (1968) Accounts. American Sociological Review 33: 46–62.
Tannen, Deborah (1990) You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York: Bantam.
Tannen, Deborah (1999) The Argument Culture: Stopping America’s War of Words. New York: Ballantine Books.
Tedeschi, James and Lindskold, Svenn (1976) Social Psychology: Interdependence, Interaction and Influence. New York: Wiley.
Timbreza, Florentino (2003) Filipino Values Today. Navotas City: National Book Store.
Wenger, Etienne (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Woodhead, Linda (2006) Gender differences in religious practice and significance. Travail, Genre et Societies 1(27): 33–54.
Published
2019-10-17
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Tuplano, M. V. I., Gustilo, L., & Correo, C. B. (2019). Gendered and genderless constructions of religious identity in a Charismatic community of practice. Gender and Language, 13(3), 339–368. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.34739
