The Morality and Politics of Consumer Religion: How Consumer Religion Fuels the Culture Wars in the United States
In his book Consuming Religion (2003) Vincent J. Miller demonstrates how consumer capitalism has been able to commodify religious rituals, symbols, and figures and market them to consumers seeking self-improvement, individual enlightenment, and/or greater spirituality. His thesis is that "consu...
| Published in: | Journal of religion and popular culture |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2007]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In his book Consuming Religion (2003) Vincent J. Miller demonstrates how consumer capitalism has been able to commodify religious rituals, symbols, and figures and market them to consumers seeking self-improvement, individual enlightenment, and/or greater spirituality. His thesis is that "consumer religion" is emblematic of a radically transformed social relationship created by consumer capitalism. This article focuses on an element of consumer religion missing in Miller's argument; that is, how commodified, consumer religion enables certain conservative political leaders to claim a tradition as their inheritance and, in turn, mobilize alienated consumers/voters in the US culture wars. In practical-political terms, culture-war conservatives have found a way to consolidate political power by embracing both a free market, which actually erodes local tradition, and traditional values, which provides fuel for culture war battles over popular movies, television, music, and public education. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.17.1.002 |