Capitalizing Religion : Ideology and the Opiate of the Bourgeoisie

"Talk of 'spirituality' and 'individual religion' is proliferating both in popular discourse and scholarly works. Increasingly people claim to be 'spiritual but not religious, ' or to prefer 'individual religion' to 'organized religion.' Scholars have for decades noted the phenomenon - primarily within the middle class - of individuals picking and choosing elements from among various religious traditions, forming their own religion or spirituality for themselves. While the topics of 'spirituality' and 'individual religion' are regularly treated as self-evident by the media and even some scholars of religion, Capitalizing Religion provides one of the first critical analyses of the phenomenon, arguing that these recent forms of spirituality are in many cases linked to capitalist ideology and consumer practices. Examining cases such as Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, and Karen Berg's God Wears Lipstick, Craig Martin ultimately argues that so-called 'individual religion' is a religion of the status quo or, more critically, 'an opiate of the bourgeoisie.' Capitalizing Religion: Ideology and Opiate of the Bourgeoisie is a landmark publication in critical religious studies"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 HalfTitle 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction 14 PART ONE Religion, capitalism, and social theory 26 1 “Individuality is zero” 28 Durkheim against Spencer 31 Durkheim’s savages 36 Taking sides 39 Durkheim’s vestiges 41 2 Theorizing “individual religion” 46 On the reach and integration of “religion” 49 Toward the restriction of “religion” 52 Losing “religion” 56 Individualism and consumer conformity 61 Conclusion 64 3 Our “religion” of the status quo 66 On “spirituality” 66 William James and spirituality 69 Jesus in late capitalism 88 Conclusion 97 PART TWO The opiate of the bourgeoisie 100 4 Quietism: The empire’s gospel 104 The Gospel According to Biff 105 A true false story 111 Religion is mostly nonsense (or worse) 112 Good religion: Be kind 113 Imperial ideology for privileged liberals 116 5 Consumerism: The fashionable hijab 120 Determined “freedom” 121 Nonthreatening Islam, consumer muslims 125 True Islam: Freedom of choice 129 True Islam: The pursuit of career 131 Fashion 132 Universal legitimation 135 A bourgeois lifestyle for everyone 136 6 Productivity: The new protestant work ethic 138 Work as a Spiritual Practice 140 The Reinvention of Work 147 Conclusion 151 7 Individualism: A capital theodicy 154 “Individualism” as capital theodicy 154 God Wears Lipstick 158 The Power of Now 163 Conclusion 168 Afterword: Things at the disposal of society 170 Notes 174 Bibliography 184 Index 190 "Talk of 'spirituality' and 'individual religion' is proliferating both in popular discourse and scholarly works. Increasingly people claim to be 'spiritual but not religious,' or to prefer 'individual religion' to 'organized religion.' Scholars have for decades noted the phenomenon - primarily within the middle class - of individuals picking and choosing elements from among various religious traditions, forming their own religion or spirituality for themselves. While the topics of 'spirituality' and 'individual religion' are regularly treated as self-evident by the media and even some scholars of religion, Capitalizing Religion provides one of the first critical analyses of the phenomenon, arguing that these recent forms of spirituality are in many cases linked to capitalist ideology and consumer practices. Examining cases such as Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, and Karen Berg's God Wears Lipstick, Craig Martin ultimately argues that so-called 'individual religion' is a religion of the status quo or, more critically, 'an opiate of the bourgeoisie.' Capitalizing Religion: Ideology and Opiate of the Bourgeoisie is a landmark publication in critical religious studies"--Bloomsbury Publishing