Religion, Consumerism and Sustainability

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Lyn Thomas

      Pages 1-14

3. Sustaining Life: Theories and Representations of Religion and Consumerism

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. Consumerism as Theodicy: Religious and Secular Meaning Functions in Modern Society

      • Tim Jackson, Miriam Pepper

      Pages 17-36

   3. Not Exactly a Selling Point? Religion and Reality TV

      • Nicholas Buxton

      Pages 37-54

   4. Living in a Material World: Religious Commodification and Resistance

      • Sharmina Mawani, Anjoom Mukadam

      Pages 55-71

   5. Sustaining Spiritualities in Consumer Cultures

      • Lyn Thomas

      Pages 72-89

4. Everyday Practices of Religion and Consumption and Their Environmental Dimensions: Paradise Lost?

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 91-91

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   2. Faith in Ethical Consumption

      • Paul Cloke, Clive Barnett, Nick Clarke, Alice Malpass

      Pages 93-114

   3. Islam in the Globalised World: Consumerism and Environmental Ethics in Iran

      • Hossein Godazgar

      Pages 115-136

   4. Consumerism in Slovak Catholic Homes

      • Zuzana Búriková

      Pages 137-151

   5. ‘What’s Not Spent Is Lost’: Consumption Practices of Pakistani Muslims in Britain

      • Kaveri Harriss

      Pages 152-174

   6. From the Parliament to the Market: Political Consumerism and the Fight for Sabbath

      • Omri Shamir, Guy Ben-Porat

      Pages 175-193

5. Back Matter

   Pages 195-200

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To varying degrees, classic religions are associated with critique of materialistic values. Onto this opposition of the market and the temple other binaries have been grafted, so that 'North' and the 'West' are portrayed as secular and materialistic, 'South' and 'East' either as 'tigers' pursuing western-style affluence and economic growth or locked into retrospective fundamentalisms. These characterisations are called into question in a context of diversity and global movements of peoples and goods. In this collection this complexity is addressed in an analysis of the interconnections between religious and consumption practices and cultures, and the ways in which both are responding to the ecological threat posed by continuous economic growth. International in scope, the book combines empirical and theoretical work in its attempt to interrogate the traditional opposition of spiritual and materialistic values, and to explore the interplay of religious and consuming passions in contemporary cultures. This analysis leads to a consideration of the ways in which religions and secular spiritualities can contribute to a new ecological consciousness, and to the adoption of less destructive and rapacious ways of life.

• environment
• ethics
• religion
• Ritual
• society
• sustainability

• London Metropolitan University, UK

  Lyn Thomas

CLIVE BARNETT is Reader in Human Geography at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK GUY BEN-PORAT is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Public Policy and Administration in Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel ZUZANA BÚRIKOVÁ is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, Slovakia NICHOLAS BUXTON is a Minor Canon of Ripon Cathedral, UK. He was one of the participants in BBC2's The Monastery, and has a PhD in Buddhist philosophy NICK CLARKE is Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Southampton, UK PAUL CLOKE is Professor of Geography at the University of Exeter, UK HOSSEIN GODAZGAR is an Honorary Visiting Fellow in Politics at the University of York, UK KAVERI HARRISS is a Research Fellow at the Department of Anthropology, Sussex University, UK TIM JACKSON is Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey, UK and Director of RESOLVE - the ESRC Research group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment ALICE MALPASS is Research Associate at the University of Bristol, UK and works in the Academic Unit of Primary Health Care SHARMINA MAWANI is Lecturer at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, UK and is Vice-President of the Gujarat Studies Association, which she co-founded in 2005 ANJOOM MUKADAM is Lecturer at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, UK OMRI SHAMIR is a PhD Candidate in the department of Public Policy and Administration, Guilford GlazerSchool of Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

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