Rethinking Retrenchment: Course Corrections in the Ongoing Campaign for Respectability

Abstract

The article discusses patterns of assimilation and retrenchment in the policies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church) during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It is suggested that LDS Church leadership, particularly under Church president Gordon B. Hinckley, has introduced policy changes which seek to increase Mormons' respectability in U.S. society and decrease cultural and political tensions following a period of retrenchment. Particular focus is given to the efforts of the LDS Church Public Affairs department to reshape popular conceptions of Mormons and to their implications for church members. Other topics include doctrine, LDS Church policies on gender, sexuality, and family, and the church's relationship with independent scholars.