Religious change in market and consumer society: the current state of the field and new ways forward

ABSTRACT

This article provides a critical appraisal of how the concept of the ‘market’ has been understood and employed in previous scholarship on religion and religious change in market society. The discussion focuses on the respective virtues and weaknesses of approaches that view ‘religious markets’ in terms of a de facto empirical entity on the one hand, and approaches that instead employ the ‘market’ as a metaphor for how the religious field is structured and organized on the other hand. The article then proceeds to outline and argue for the adoption of a broader marketization-focused perspective that views ongoing changes in the religious field against the backdrop of wider neoliberal socio-economic restructurings of the global political economy and social institutional fields.

KEYWORDS:

• Religious change
• marketization of religion
• religion and consumer culture
• religious market
• religious marketing
• religious branding

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Marcus Moberg received his PhD in the study of religion at Åbo Akademi University in 2009. He currently works as a Senior Researcher in the Åbo Akademi Centre of Excellence in Research project Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective (YARG, 2014–2018). His research focuses on religious change in market and consumer society, religion and discourse, and religion, media, and culture. His publications include Church, Market, and Media (Bloomsbury Academic 2017), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music (Bloomsbury Academic 2017, co-edited with Christopher Partridge), and Religion, Media, and Social Change (Routledge 2015, co-edited with Kennet Granholm and Sofia Sjö).

Tuomas Martikainen received his PhD in the study of religion at Åbo Akademi University in 2004. Currently he is the Director of the Migration Institute of Finland. His research focuses on contemporary religion, including migrant religious organizations, governance of religion, and the impact of neoliberalism on religion. His publications include Religion, Migration, Settlement (Brill, 2013). Together with François Gauthier, he has edited two volumes debating the intersection of religion, neoliberalism, and market society: Religion in the Neoliberal Age (Ashgate, 2013) and Religion in Consumer Society (Ashgate, 2013).