Charisma in the Marketplace: The Transformative Role of Prosperity Religions in Southeast Asia’s Economic Modernization

Religion has been described as an opiate, a reversion to tradition, and a method of coping with modern life. Drawing on case studies of contemporary prosperity-based religious movements in Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines and Vietnam, this paper shows that religion can play a dynamic and facilit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sargent, Rebecca (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Common Ground Publishing 2011
In: The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
Year: 2011, Volume: 1, Issue: 3, Pages: 47-58
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Summary:Religion has been described as an opiate, a reversion to tradition, and a method of coping with modern life. Drawing on case studies of contemporary prosperity-based religious movements in Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines and Vietnam, this paper shows that religion can play a dynamic and facilitative role in contemporary social and material relations. Writers who address the social and economic upheavals of the late modernity tend to describe religion as a passive, static, traditional, even nostalgic refuge from modern demands, and as a deliberate turn away from the increasing "individualization" of responsibility for lifestyle choices and economic circumstances. This paper will show that emerging religious forms and practices in South East Asia can be characterized as modern institutions which actually constitute personal ethics of responsibility, transparency, individual choice, and autonomy. These ethics, in turn, enable individuals to participate more fully in modern market practices.
ISSN:2154-8641
Contains:Enthalten in: The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.18848/2154-8633/CGP/v01i03/51026