The taste for religious things. Quantitative approaches to the consumption of cultural goods and spiritually marked objects in Argentina

Abstract

The aim of the article is to quantitatively explore religious practices related to the consumption of material culture with spiritual or religious marks in Argentina. From the data constructed in the "Second National Survey of Religious Beliefs and Attitudes in Argentina'' (Mallimaci, Esquivel, Giménez Béliveau & Irrazábal, 2019), we analyze three subtypes of material culture that differentiate systems of objects and complementary goods. The first covers written culture, which includes sacred texts of different types, books, newspapers and magazines. The second includes the audiovisual culture made up of music, radio, television and internet programs. Finally, the iconographic and aesthetic culture encompasses "santeria" products, clothing and costume jewelry. The consumption of materials in these three subdivisions will be analyzed based on six variables: age group, gender, socioeconomic level, educational level, region of residence and size of the city. In this way, the work offers a quantitative characterization of the consumption of objects with religious or spiritual marks in the Argentine population.