May 2, 2018 / C H Thompson

Post modernity: spiritual shopping

Hervieu-Leger identifies two new types of religion are emerging:

Pilgrims -> they follow an individual path in the search for self-discovery, such as exploring New Age spirituality by joining groups.
Converts -> people who join religious groups that offer a strong sense of belonging. Such groups re-create a sense of community in a society that has lost many of its traditions

In Lyon’s view, postmodern society has a number of features that are changing the nature of religion:

He said that this includes globalisation, which is the increased importance of the media and communications, and the growth of consumerism (shopping) on a global scale
globalisation is the growing interconnectedness of societies, now through social media, increasing the likelihood of ‘converts’ to communty’s in other countries
has led to an increased movement of ideas and beliefs across national boundaries
We live in a postmodern, media saturated society that have led ideas to become ‘disembedded’ -> the media lift the out of original context
As a result of this, religion has become de-institutionalised.

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