Consuming Religion“Takes us through the Kardashians, cubicle design, and Goldman Sachs, among other phenomena, to reveal the relationship of religion and popular culture.” —Reading Religion What are you drawn to like, to watch, or even to binge? What are you free to consume, and what do you become through consumption? These questions of desire and value, Kathryn Lofton argues, are questions for the study of religion. In eleven essays exploring soap and office cubicles, Britney Spears and the Kardashians, corporate culture and Goldman Sachs, Lofton shows the conceptual levers of religion in thinking about social modes of encounter, use, and longing. Wherever we see people articulate their dreams of and for the world, wherever we see those dreams organized into protocols, images, manuals, and contracts, we glimpse what the word “religion” allows us to describe and understand. With great style and analytical acumen, Lofton offers the ultimate guide to religion and consumption in our capitalizing times. “Consuming Religion is a timely exploration of a world in which reality is branded. Unexpected connections and juxtapositions reveal religion in unexpected places and practices. To follow Kathryn Lofton’s romp through today’s mediascape is to discover the superficiality of pop culture to be surprisingly profound.” —Mark C. Taylor, Columbia University “An elegant, critical, wide-ranging and thought-provoking account of religion and spirituality in America today.” —Times Higher Education |
Contents
1 | |
Practicing Commodity | 15 |
Revising Ritual | 59 |
Imagining Celebrity | 103 |
Valuing Family | 139 |
Rethinking Corporate Freedom | 195 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accessed 26 November Action Office advertising American argued authority banks became become behavior Blankfein Britney Britney Spears capitalism celebrity century Chicago Press child Christian church Cleanliness clients companies consumer consumption corporate culture crisis critical critique cubicle described Durkheim economic emerged Émile Durkheim ethical evangelical explained firm gender Goldman Sachs Herman Miller Herman Miller Inc HMIA Hobby Lobby human Ibid increasingly individuals institutions Ivory soap James Bratt Journal Khloé Kim Kardashian Kourtney labor modern moral offered organization parenting political popular practice Princeton Procter & Gamble profit promote Propst Protestant Protestantism Purity Ball relationship religion ritual Ritualists Robert Kardashian Robert Propst sacrifice Scholars of religion secular soap social society specific spiritual story suggests things tion totem United University Press USA Today values Wall Street word workers workplace York Zeeland