Abstract EN:

The Shi’a religious identity has managed to preserve itself for many decades. The identity has been determined within a socio-religious confession that distanced itself from power for ideological and political reasons. The Shiites found themselves associated with the State of Greater-Lebanon without having their own real project. Effectively, this did not improve their status. It, inspite of that, lead to the emergence of unevenness at the parliamentarian representation and the economic development levels. Various forces emerged, with the religious system at the forefront that worked on the redefining of the identity and the socio-political program that manifests the interests of the sect. Taking these elements into account, we focussed our research on the role the religious system in defining this identity. Our contribution consists of three parts. The first part is theoretical that allows to shed a light on the concepts-keys of the Shi’a confession. The second part analyses the situation of this group and the third part questions, on the basis of numerous documents and interviews, the mechanisms used to maintain the values of the group and its unity with a field study of Nabatieh area