Demonopolisation and dislocation: (Re-)negotiating the place and role of religion in Spanish prisons

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the reformulation of the place and role of religion in Spanish public institutions after the constitutional disestablishment of the Catholic Church and religious diversification of society. Drawing upon qualitative fieldwork in six Spanish prisons, we argue that there is a process of the realignment of forces between the religious groups that provide services in such institutions, the Catholic Church adopting an attitude in between adaptation and subtle resistance to the loss of a number of its previous prerogatives. This incomplete demonopolisation of public organisations can be explained as the result of two opposing forces: (a) convergence towards the European standards of accommodation of religious diversity; and (b) Catholic resistance to the loss of established advantages.

The project GEDIVER-IN: The management of religious diversity in hospitals and prisons in Spain was funded by the National Research Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Julia Martínez-Ariño received the support from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (Göttingen, Germany) and Gemma Ubasart received the support from Prometeo Program of SENESCyT (Ecuador)

10