RT Article
T1 Religions as brands?: religion and spirituality in consumer society
JF Journal of management, spirituality & religion
VO 16
IS 1
SP 6
OP 31
A1 Stolz, Joerg
A1 Usunier, Jean-Claude 1951-
LA English
PB International Association of Management, Spirituality & Religion
YR 2019
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1670082520
AB This article gives an interdisciplinary account of the societal causes as well as individual and organizational effects of religious consumer society. It integrates and systematizes contributions from economics of religion, marketing, and sociology of religion. The article presents the causes of religious consumer society and the most frequent individual adaptations (quality expectations, religious shopping, syncretism) and organizational responses (marketing and branding strategies). Findings are that (1) in the religious consumer society, individuals are free not to be religious or spiritual, putting religious associations in competition with secular organizations, and possibly leading to secularization, (2) it is exaggerated to speak of shopping and consuming as the "new religions" of Western societies, and (3) religious marketing and branding face important limitations, some internal and some external to religious and spiritual organizations, due to the dilemma between marketing practices and transcendental claims. We suggest ways and means to solve this dilemma.
K1 Secularization
K1 Branding
K1 Marketing
K1 Religiosity
K1 Transcendence
K1 Aufsatz in Zeitschrift
DO 10.1080/14766086.2018.1445008