As racionalidades do mercado religioso: considerações sobre produção e consumo da música gospel

Abstract

The consumption of gospel products attracted a great amount of attention to it by the Social Sciences. Recently social scientists were engaged on understanding this phenomenon and explaining it. This article parts from these approaches, but find them insufficient. We argue these approaches fail as they do not consider the rationalities of this market and the meanings the consumers give to the gospel products. Focusing on music, this article brings results of an ethnographic research carried out between 2012 and 2015. It will be shown that the own structure of the gospel music industry is of paramount importance to the comprehension of its success. Also, it will be argued that the meanings consumers give to gospel music, in their daily lives, impact its social relevance.