The Camino de Santiago in Late Modernity: Examining Transformative Aftereffects of the Pilgrimage Experience

Based on a content analysis of 32 pilgrim travelogues it was assumed that certain values resulting from the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage would tend to be persistent, and these rather meaningful and memorable experiences may result in changes to a pilgrim’s personal hierarchy of values. To explore these assumed transformative aftereffects an online survey (n = 500) was carried out to examine self-reported value changes using the Short Schwartz’s Value Survey. The greatest increase post pilgrimage showed the importance of values that emphasise concern for the welfare and interests of others (universalism, benevolence). The only and quite substantial decreases we measured was in the importance of values that emphasise the pursuit of self-interest and relative success together with dominance over others (power, achievement). A slight increase was evident in openness to change and interestingly, also conservation. Since spirituality shares a pro-social tendency with religiosity, while conservation is not the emphasis, openness to change is important. We suggest therefore, that value-shift reflects pro-social tendencies and is associated with both religiosity and spirituality.