Empowerment in the New Age: A Motivational Study of Auto-biographical Life Stories
This article contributes to the ongoing debate about the motivational goals of New Age practices and beliefs by looking at descriptions of auto-biographical life events. Narratives from New Age, Catholic, and non-religious participants (N = 163) were analysed according to agency and communion types...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2006]
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 2006, Volume: 21, Issue: 2, Pages: 241-256 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | This article contributes to the ongoing debate about the motivational goals of New Age practices and beliefs by looking at descriptions of auto-biographical life events. Narratives from New Age, Catholic, and non-religious participants (N = 163) were analysed according to agency and communion types of motivations. New Age respondents were found to have a higher frequency for agency and a lower frequency for communion themes than the other groups, with particular stress on forms of self-referential magical empowerment. This study provides further evidence for the existence of a particular motivational-cognitive pattern in the New Age: holistic individualism. The pattern associates individualistic motivations with a highly abstract holistic style of thinking and sets the New Age individual apart from religious and non-religious people. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537900600658351 |