Utrecht University
2022/2023
201400040 Religion, Media and Popular Culture
Literature Summary
- Numbers after sentences refer to page numbers
- Italicized sentences are direct quotes from the texts
Literature week 1
Eller, Jack David. 2022. Introducing Anthropology of Religion: Culture to the Ultimate
(Third edition.) New York: Routledge. Chapter 1: Studying religion anthropologically:
Definitions and theories. Pp 1-25.
Anthropology is an unique way to research
- Cross cultural or comparative
- Holistic approach
- Cultural relativism
Religion is hard to define. Our definition depends on what is accepted as religion.
Anthropologists have determined that religion is a culture specific phenomenon.
Several theories exist that try to explain things about religion
- Historical/evolutionist theories
- Psychological theories
- Social theories
- Modular theories
Anthropology can research the manifestations of religion in social life, actions, rituals,
institutions, not so much what is inside people’s heads.
Functions of religion
- Filling individual needs
- Explanation, especially of origins or causes
- Source of rules and norms
- Source of ultimate sanctions
- Solution of immediate problems
- Filling collective needs
Klassen, Chris. 2014. Religion and Popular Culture: a cultural studies approach. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. Introduction and Chapter 1.
Various theories about religion
- Many researchers are interested in patterns
- Connection with capitalism
- Symbols
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,Theorizing religion and popular culture requires flexibility and movement
Can both be highly politicized
Roush, Laura. 2014. "Santa Muerte, Protection, and "Desamparo": A View from a Mexico
City Altar." Latin American Research Review 49: 129-148.
Devotees do not know each other outside of the meetings
Individual connection to Santa Muerte
Connection to different social spheres
- Holistic approach to studying religion
Literature week 2
Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press. Chapter 13.
In recent decades North America has gone through a cultural revolution, the turning point
being the 60s. The modern age had already been defined by individualism, but it added
“expressive” individualism.
The societal changes are attributed to many causes, some examples
- Consumer life styles
- Increased mobility
- Rise of certain media outlets
Shift is seen as egoism or hedonism on the rise, which had been vices in traditional
community life.
Most obvious manifestation of individuation is the consumer revolution
- Focus on private space, which broke up tight communities
- In this private space the consumer was encouraged to buy stuff to fill their needs
- Creation of a youth market, helped create a consciousness of youth as a stage of life,
the presented youth culture is expressivist
Current trend of authenticity has a long history. Youth rebelling in the 60s and 70s were
against the “system” in place that restricted them (476). These protests were not very
effective, lacking political determination.
- Example about “BoBos”, who have accepted capitalism but still find expression
important
- But still fragments of the ideals remain powerful
To the extent that the goals of integral self-expression, sensual release, equal relations, and
social bonding cannot be easily realized together— and it seems that they can only be united
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,with difficulty, and for a time, in small communities at best—the attempt to realize them will
involve sacrificing some elements of the package for others. (477)
Not every part is acted on with the same significance
- Self-expression thus turns into “higher selfishness”
- Freedom and the abortion debate
In the last decades of the 20th century, certain choices were freed, but this also had the cost
of several losses. The people who fought for these choices are to an extent aware of this,
which makes them feel like a sense of community was lost (480).
There has been a shift in values.
Three forms of social imaginary
- The economy, the public sphere and the sovereign people
- But there also exists a fourth sphere, the sphere of fashion. It is a form of mutual
display, where others have to be there to witness what we are doing, because this
co-determines the meaning of our action. These interactions have become more
important in modern society where we come into contact with a big amount of
people.
The meaning of our participation in the event is shaped by the whole vast dispersed audience
we share it with. (482)
Durkheim gave meaning to these instances of collective effervescence as founding members
of society and the sacred.
- Not so much a common action, but a common feeling. Can sometimes feel bigger
than real life, religious even.
- Consumer culture, expressivism and spaces of mutual display connect people.
One could argue that for many young people today, certain styles, which they enjoy and
display in their more immediate circle, but which are defined through the media, in relation
to admired stars—or even products—occupy a bigger place in their sense of self, and that
this has tended to displace in importance the sense of belonging to large scale collective
agencies, like nations, not to speak of churches, political parties, agencies of advocacy, and
the like. (484)
The notion that people should be free to do what they want is now alone, no longer
surrounded by other notions. This has caused the “harm principle”. Which says no one can
interfere with me for my own good, only to prevent harm to others. It is demanded by a
dominant expressive individualism (484).
The pursuit of individual happiness caused erosion in various areas
- Citizen ethic, family values (sexual control), hard work and productivity were to be
adhered, otherwise it would be bad for yourself and your community
- Much of this lied in the reform of sexual norms
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, https://tif.ssrc.org/2007/11/23/after-durkheim/ helps to explain paleo and neo-
Durkheimian
Paleo-Durkheimian
- Social form in which religion is deeply embedded in the entire social structure, so
much so that it is not a differentiated sphere.
- Connection between belonging to a church and the state
Neo-Durkheimian
- Social form where religion is partially disembedded from traditional social structure
and it serves as an expression of a larger social identity.
- Being in a church is a choice
Expressivist outlook is that a religious lifestyle is not only a choice, but it must take me
farther. There is no necessary embedding in a church.
There is a struggle between paleo and neo Durkheimian.
The spiritual is no longer intrinsically related to society. A religious quest does no longer
have to meet paleo or neo Durkheimian norms of a church and/or a society (490).
These are connected movements. The new prosperity came along with better
communications, and this opened horizons; but then the new pursuit of happiness drew
people so strongly that they began to desert the older ritual life which was built around the
community and its common efforts to survive in the physical and spiritual world. This ritual
life then itself begins to shrink, in part disappear, and there is less and less to hold those who
might want to stay within it. (490)
Durkheim, Emile. 1912. “Excerpts from: The Elementary Form of Religious Life.” In:
Lambek, Michael (ed.). A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion. Malden: Blackwell. Pp.
34-49.
Durkheim makes three arguments regarding religion and the social (35)
- Religion is a natural expression of society, it is a reflection of its own transcendent
power
- Religion provides a form of social cohesion, a functionalist notion
- All religions can be considered true once it is seen what they represent in society. He
recognizes the symbolic quality of religion
In this article Durkheim looks at the most primitive religion. These have to meet two
conditions.
- It is found in “simple” societies
- It must be explainable without introducing elements of a precedent religion
No religions are false, but they can be ranked. Some are more complex than others.
However this ranking does not diminish their ability to fulfill the same needs (38).
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