%0 Journal Article
%T The Politics of Schism. The origins of Dissent in Mormonism
%A Potz, Maciej
%J Studia Religiologica
%V 2016
%R 10.4467/20844077SR.16.014.5872
%N Volume 49 Issue 3
%P 203-218
%K Mormonism, schism, political power, theory of social exchange
%@ 0137-2432
%D 2016
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/studia-religiologica/article/the-politics-of-schism-the-origins-of-dissent-in-mormonism
%X 
	Throughout nearly two ages of its history, and especially in the 19th century, Mormonism has experienced numerous cases of dissent and schism. Analysis of their sources reveals that, among a number of doctrinal, ritual, organisational and other issues, the single most important cause of schism was conflicts over authority. These power struggles are explained – within a theoretical framework derived from the theory of social exchange – as balancing operations intended to improve the actors’ position in unequal exchange relations: to be able to obtain the valuable religious goods at a lower price (i.e. less or no submission).