Paradigm Conflict, Types of Conversion, and Conversion Theories

The present paper identifies two predominant perspectives of researchers investigating new religious conversion: Agency Assigned to the Convert (active versus passive) and Level of Analysis (intraindividual versus interindividual). A typology of both types and theories of religious conversion is proffered. The Agency perspective is paradigmatic and dichotomizes conversion research. The level of analysis perspective is subparadigmatic and differentiates types and theories of conversion within each of the two larger paradigmatic perspectives. It is argued that the present typology facilitates: 1) an appreciation of the underlying metatheoretical assumptions and conceptual priorities of contemporary conversion researchers, 2) an integrated social psychological understanding of diverse conversion experiences, and 3) an appreciation of how the tension and conflict between the two paradigmatic perspectives tends to reflect and reproduce the larger tension and conflict between “status quo” and “new society” groups in contemporary American society.