Social Typing of Religious Changers: The Impact of Motivation on the Stories of Alternators and Converts

Work by Snow and Machalek (1983 Snow , David A. and Richard Machalek . 1983 . “The Convert as a Social Type.” Pp. 253 – 289 in Sociological Theory 1983 , edited by Randall Collins . San Francisco : Jossey-Bass .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar] 1984 Snow , David A. and Richard Machalek . 1984 . “The Sociology of Conversion.” Annual Review of Sociology 10 : 167 – 190 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) outline several key properties that could be used to define a religious convert including engaging in biographical reconstruction, adoption of a master attribution scheme, and embracing the master role of religious convert. The effectiveness of these properties are analyzed using data provided by a sample of 68 religious changers of various religious communities and traditions. Comparisons are made between changers classified as converts (who change based on a primarily religious motivation) and alternators (change religions based on some other primary motivation) based on the conversion stories and answers provided to identity based survey assessments.