ABSTRACT
To the student of culture change the conversion of peasants from folk-Catholicism to Protestantism in Mexican villages poses several interesting practical as well as theoretical problems. What sector of the village population tends to turn to Protestantism and why? What are the motives and circumstances which lead peasants to brave the criticism of their fellow villagers? This chapter presents some answers to these and related questions on the basis of a study of the conversion from Catholicism to Seventh Day Adventism of Pedro Martinez and his family. In appraising the motives and circumstances which led Pedro Martinez to become a Protestant, people find a combination of social, political and psychological factors all of which were intimately intertwined. Pedro's turn to Protestantism may therefore be seen as a reaction against the established order and as a search for a new ideal which would serve as an outlet for his great energy and aggression and desire for leadership.
