The I-zation Of Society, Religion, And Neoliberal Post-secularism
by Adam Possamai /
2017 / English / PDF
2.4 MB Download
This book explores the elective affinity of religion and
post-secularism with neoliberalism. With the help of digital
capitalism, neoliberalism dominates, more and more, all aspects
of life, and religion is not left unaffected. While some faith
groups are embracing this hegemony, and others are simply
following the signs of the times, changes have been so
significant that religion is no longer what it used to be.
Linking theories from Fredric Jameson and George Ritzer, this
book presents the argument that our present society is going
through a process of i-zation in which (1) capitalism dominates
not only our outer, social lives (through, for example, global
capitalism) but also our inner, personal lives, through its
expansion in the digital world, facilitated by various
i-technology applications; (2) the McDonaldization process has
now been normalized; and (3) religiosity has been standardized.
Reviewing the new inequalities present in this i-society, the
book considers their impact on Jurgen Habermas’s project of
post-secularism, and appraises the roles that various religions
may have in supporting and/or countering this process. It
concludes by arguing that Habermas’s post-secular project will
occur but that, paradoxically, the religious message(s) will be
instrumentalized for capitalist purposes.
This book explores the elective affinity of religion and
post-secularism with neoliberalism. With the help of digital
capitalism, neoliberalism dominates, more and more, all aspects
of life, and religion is not left unaffected. While some faith
groups are embracing this hegemony, and others are simply
following the signs of the times, changes have been so
significant that religion is no longer what it used to be.
Linking theories from Fredric Jameson and George Ritzer, this
book presents the argument that our present society is going
through a process of i-zation in which (1) capitalism dominates
not only our outer, social lives (through, for example, global
capitalism) but also our inner, personal lives, through its
expansion in the digital world, facilitated by various
i-technology applications; (2) the McDonaldization process has
now been normalized; and (3) religiosity has been standardized.
Reviewing the new inequalities present in this i-society, the
book considers their impact on Jurgen Habermas’s project of
post-secularism, and appraises the roles that various religions
may have in supporting and/or countering this process. It
concludes by arguing that Habermas’s post-secular project will
occur but that, paradoxically, the religious message(s) will be
instrumentalized for capitalist purposes.
