DUNNE_THC.Doc
Critically evaluate the claim, that contemporary consumer society is more of a dissipation of religion, than religion in a new form?
1. To critically examine this question a workable definition of both religion and contemporary consumer society will have to be established. This will allow an examination of how and if religion is affected by such a society. Such effects are examined in the light of trends of early modernity and contemporary sociology. The effects on religion and culture of 'change' are examined as a means of exploring the possible outcomes of the question.
“For particular organisations, integration is often accelerated by threats from a broader competitive climate and the necessity of organisations to protect their viability. […]In the transition to late–modernism, these forces affect organisations of all kinds: religious, political,
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It was found that despite the good intentions of such ‘spiritualties‘ and the idea that they were in touch with ‘the divine’, that in fact they are deeply involved with neoliberalism and ‘big business’. Many, also lacked a transformative element, or the possibility of a significant change in participants’ lifestyles or fundamental behaviour patterns. Neither did they conform to the definition of religion as chosen, however they may do so to another definition, such as Gilmores, who thinks that “contemporary tensions between “organised religion” and “DIY spirituality” may be productively framed in terms of on-going and dialogic exchanges between the individual and the collective, inspiration, and intuition, spontaneity, prophecy and tradition.” Nevertheless, their existence does not favour the view that such small groups constitute religion in a new form, or support the view that religion in contemporary consumer society has been