Contributo para uma visao economica do associativismo religioso - o caso das confrarias activas de Lisboa[Towards an economic perspective of the religious associativism - the case of Lisbon active laical brotherhoods]

Where are the brotherhoods of the Patriarchate of Lisbon? Why are these brotherhoods located in such spaces? The present work answers to these two questions, being a pioneer attempt about the thematic, in Portugal. Through the empirical validation recurring to logit models, this paper identifies as determinants the human diversity of the spaces (parishes) and the related tradition, not confirming the hypothesis of the purchase power of the resident people. Therefore, it is confirmed that the resources constraint of this kind of social groups considers the cultural and the traditional richness as fundamental to the detriment of the exclusive budget restriction.