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Authors:Hanna H KIM Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. This article explores two youth programmes, YTK (Yuvati/Yuvak Talim Kendra) and IPDC (Integrated Personality Development Course), created by BAPS (Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha), a global Hindu community. Both programmes rest on BAPS’s vision of the good life while recognising globally circulating ideas of success that associate economic mobility with self-motivated and disciplined workers. In the context of neoliberalising India, BAPS programmes provide a toolkit for attaining devotional objectives and aspirational success where each depends on refashioning the self into an optimised ideal. BAPS’s emphasis on the continuous and affectively intensive work of self-making in order to attain devotional goals draws attention to the translatability of devotional labour to those market arenas that demand affective responsiveness and flexibility. The youth programmes highlight the global discourse of self-improvement, filtered through BAPS conceptions of self in relation to others and point to the continued salience of religion in entrepreneurial times. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-11-22T12:14:32Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231203829
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Authors:Alia GANA, Ester SIGILLÒ Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. This article investigates the notions of ‘civil state’ and ‘civil party’ as constructed by the Tunisian Islamist party Ennahdha through its process of ‘specialization’ in partisan action and its interactions with both ‘secular’ forces and the different groups composing – or are associated with it. The various conceptualizations of these notions reveal a multilayered political group, seeking to adapt to the new political environment by recombining the links between religious and political activities. Analyzing the debates that led in 2014 to the constitutionalization of the civil nature of the state and the controversies surrounding religiously inspired bills, as well as interviews with the various actors involved, we show how the reconfiguration of the Islamist movement into two components, a civil party specialized in politics and a faith-based civil society, does not imply a clear separation of state and religion, but rather the affirmation of a civil state inspired by Islamic values. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-11-20T09:46:41Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231210134
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Authors:Sarah WILKINS-LAFLAMME Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. In 2008 and 2018, the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) asked respondents from 44 countries if they self-identify as ‘I don’t follow a religion, but consider myself to be a spiritual person interested in the sacred or the supernatural’ (Spiritual But Not Religious, SBNR). This paper compares issue positions on same-sex relations and gender roles between SBNR respondents and religiously active, marginally affiliated and nonreligious and nonspiritual respondents. Previous studies show that more religious individuals tend to hold more right-leaning stances on many sociopolitical issues, due to more conservative religious and political socialization as well as influences from surrounding social environments. However, these previous studies have not looked at the potentially distinct category of SBNR. Our study finds that progressive attitudes extend to both the SBNR and the nonreligious and nonspiritual, the attitudes among respondents of both these categories being very similar when it comes to same-sex relations and gender roles. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-10-16T08:18:27Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231200978
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Authors:Caroline HILL Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. When making public statements about abortion, those serving in the Russian Orthodox Church are beholden to the legacy of the Soviet health care system and the need to connect with audiences whose religious sentiments are largely nominal. This article explores framing of abortion by clerics and others serving in the Church in 150 Russian online newspaper articles. Said framing was analyzed according to typologies from prior research of morality policy and church-state relations in Russia. The frequency with which these frames were employed was measured and cross-referenced with article genres. The results show that rational-instrumental frames rooted in secular reasoning surpassed religious argumentation and appeals for state intervention, and that frames expressing disillusionment with the Russian government outpaced positive assessments of the state. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-10-16T08:16:07Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231198783
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Authors:Andrea BELÁŇOVÁ Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. Faith-based social service delivery is influenced by the sociocultural conditions in which it transpires. Czechia, as a low religious affiliation country, presents specific conditions for investigating this relationship. This study is based on 10 interviews with CEOs from faith-based organizations related to the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. The findings reveal important differences between perceived meanings of faith, institutionalized religion, and spirituality in relation to social service delivery. The thematic analysis reveals a problematic relationship between these CEOs and the church, with the public presentation of religion among the main issues. All interviewed CEOs understand their social service delivery as their own individual projects and only loosely related to the church. Alternatively, they appreciate its occasional support and religious character, which also provide feelings of distinctiveness. The CEOs present social service delivery as doing everyday religion, but they presume the church sees social service delivery as useful public relations (PR). Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-10-16T08:12:40Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231198771
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Authors:Joud ALKORANI Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. This article analyzes how liberal, American-curriculum universities and neoliberal entrepreneurship centers play a role in shaping the religious subjectivities of millennial Muslim women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is grounded in 2 years of fieldwork and interviews conducted with middle-class, migrant Muslim women living in the UAE, a highly cosmopolitan urban setting shaped deeply by processes of globalization. Examining how ‘global forms’ materialize in local contexts, the article scrutinizes how the ‘assemblages’ emerging in educational and entrepreneurial contexts play a vital role in shaping women’s practices and sensibilities, conceptualizations of God, and relationships to others. Tracing one woman’s intellectual and religious trajectory through her self-narrative, the article intervenes in debates on the global reach and resonance of American educational ‘imperialism’; the entanglement of religious and entrepreneurial subjectivity; and the contemporary forms of Islamic religiosity in the Middle East. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-08-28T06:58:03Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231190755
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Authors:Cory ANDERSON, Jennifer ANDERSON Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. Under what social conditions would ethnic sectarians in developed countries engage in inter-country adoption, grafting ethnically diverse children into their homogeneous contexts' In this article, we present a case study of Amish-Mennonite adoption-oriented children’s homes in underdeveloped countries. As the ethnic sectarian, family-oriented, evangelical Amish-Mennonites met little success proselytizing adults, adoption-oriented children’s home allowed adoptive parents to demonstrate their commitment to mission while maintaining sectarian-style control over a child’s socialization. Ultimately, the children’s homes were short lived, coming and going based on larger geo-political dynamics, signaling that this unusual international adoption project is internally motivated but enabled and constrained by larger institutional contexts. Although the actual percentage of inter-country adoptees to Amish-Mennonite homes is small, this case demonstrates that the right combination of values and broader political dynamics create conditions facilitating migration of children from lesser developed countries into wealthy contexts, a process cracking – even if not fully opening – Amish-Mennonite ethnic/racial homogeneity. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-08-28T06:51:23Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231185930
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Authors:Anca MUNTEANU, Haoues SENIGUER Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. By putting in the Moroccan context the concept of ‘multiple secularities’, this paper digs the process of conceptualization of ‘secularization’ at the initiative of the Islamist leader, Saadeddine al-Othmani. The latter supported the acceptability of a secular principle adequate to religion, its symbols and their presence in the political and public space. Through the analysis of his writings as well as of other leaders’ discourses, this article follows the compromises between religious and secular revendications during the process of conceptualization inside the PJD-MUR. Using the theories of ‘secularization’ and ‘de-théologisation’, this study highlights the strategy of ‘rejection’ and ‘adaptation’ developed by the PJD. Rejecting the hypothesis of a linear secularization of Islamist ideology, it also examines the ongoing or incomplete structural mutations resulted from the ‘distinction’ (tamiyyîz) between the party and the movement, as well as between the socio-political spheres. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-07-13T11:45:44Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231180380
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Authors:Erica M LARSON Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in secondary schools in Manado, Indonesia, this article examines digital infrastructures and their accompanying (im)moral potentialities in the development of Christian and Muslim youth as evaluated by educators. On the one hand, smartphones are portrayed as portals to a globalizing world in which youth might succumb to negative influences (with a particular anxiety surrounding pornography) based on their perceived inchoate moral development and insufficiently strong religious foundation. On the other hand, these teachers and administrators recognize the potential that smartphones have to be used for deepening spiritual engagement, connection, and proselytization. This particular case study offers insights into the ways in which institutions charged with religious and moral development of youth seek to leverage rather than categorically reject mainstream culture, navigating the globalizing influences of the secular world toward the possibility of attaining a greater good. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-07-10T10:43:08Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231182251
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Authors:Arnaud SIMARD-ÉMOND Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. Although present in Aboriginal communities since the early 1930s, Jehovism among Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States has not yet been the subject of any published ethnographic, sociological, or historical study. This article presents the result of the first ethnographic study with Jehovah’s Witnesses among Aboriginal peoples in Canada. From an online field of research spanning over a period of 10 months with Anishinabe (Algonquin) Witnesses from Kitigan Zibi (Outaouais, Quebec), I explore the motivations behind the decision to become a Jehovah’s Witness for the latter. I also show that the first conversions in Kitigan Zibi are mainly due to a dual historical context that created a fertile ground for conversion. Finally, I propose the concept of ‘small-scale conversion’ as another way to conceive the intergenerational transmission of religion. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-06-22T10:45:40Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231182499
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Authors:Ryan T CRAGUN, Bethany GULL Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. A growing body of research has begun to explore the religious and spiritual lives of transgender and nonbinary individuals. Missing from prior sociological research on this topic is how individuals outside the gender binary conceptualize the gender of god(s) and their own genders in the afterlife. Using data from a targeted survey of members of transgender listservs and online activist groups, this study explores two specific religious/spiritual beliefs of transgender and nonbinary individuals in comparison to cisgender individuals: (1) their conception of God’s/gods’ gender(s) and (2) their conception of their own gender in the afterlife. Many trans and nonbinary participants report both their future gender and the gender of any god(s) in which they believe as nonbinary, but not exclusively. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-06-03T06:26:31Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231176355
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Authors:Lori G BEAMAN, Lauren STRUMOS Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. This article explores how sociologists of religion can respond to ‘the animal turn’ in studies of lived religion and nonreligion. We begin by considering how sociology has neglected the place of non-human animals and the ‘more than human’ in social life. We then turn to the sociology of religion, where animals have often been devalued or ignored as irrelevant to understanding religion in society. We argue that it is necessary to consider the ways in which human activities are shaped by non-human animals. This does not mean that animals should be thought of as nonreligious or religious. We contend that the failure to incorporate non-human animals in sociological considerations of religion and nonreligion replicates a hierarchical model, which sees human life as above or higher than non-human life and calls our attention to the place of sociological research amid the climate crisis. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-05-25T12:10:38Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231170993
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Authors:Clément STEUER, Alexis BLOUËT, Naïma BOURAS Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. Two notions have been at the center of the Egyptian constitutional debates since 2011: the ‘civil state’ and the ‘religious party’. The Muslim Brothers have played on the ambiguity of the notion of a ‘civil state’ as being neither secular nor theocratic, just as their understanding of an Islamic state. The Salafi al-Nūr Party has long refused to embrace the notion. Nevertheless, in 2019 it obtained from the Parliament’s Speaker a definition close to the one defended by the Muslim Brothers and endorsed it as a victory against the secular interpretation of the term. The same ambiguity appears regarding the notion of a ‘religious party’. The al-Nūr Party tried to prevent the interdiction of such parties in the 2014 Constitution. At the same time, it distances itself from the notion, and abides by the law, including Christian members, presenting female candidates, and organically separating political and religious activities. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-05-19T11:24:57Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231172082
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Authors:Anne-Sophie CROSETTI Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. This article deals with a socio-historical enigma: the articulation of family planning – through dedicated centres – and catholicism. How come self-identified catholics ended up defending contraception and decriminalisation of abortion while the Catholic Church kept reminding that sexuality should be conjugal and reproductive' The article examines the process of creating a discursive and practical normativity allowing the use of contraception and abortion through a catholic ‘tool’, that is, the pastoral power at a time of secularisation. Borrowing the concept developed by Michel Foucault enables highlighting the ‘catholic governmentality’ regarding contraception and abortion, namely, the ‘responsible-freedom’. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-05-19T11:19:39Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231170995
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Authors:Anna Halafoff, Andrew Singleton, Ruth Fitzpatrick Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. The turn of the twenty-first century was characterised by ‘spiritual revolution’, with claims that interest in New Age spirituality was eclipsing religion and would continue to do so in the future. Since then, scholars of religion have been more focused on religious diversity and the rise of the non-religious. While interest in spirituality, uptake of spiritual practices, and identification as ‘spiritual but not religious’ have continued to grow, spirituality is typically not taken as seriously as religion, at least in political spheres or by academia. This article examines the history and contemporary dynamics of spiritual complexity in Australia, drawing on the findings of two Australian Research Council–funded studies ‘The Worldviews of Australia’s Generation Z’ and ‘Religious Diversity in Australia’ and on a recent project ‘(Con)spirituality, Science and COVID-19 in Australia’. It argues that it is certainly time for spirituality to be taken more seriously in this country and globally, given spirituality’s concern with personal and planetary wellbeing, and also the potential risks spirituality can pose due to its association with dis/misinformation, neoliberalism, and violence. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-05-09T08:25:37Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231162005
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Authors:Charles MUELLER, Miori NAGASHIMA Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. Factors that currently lead Japanese men to enter and remain in the Buddhist priesthood are poorly understood. This article reports the results of a qualitative study that examines the profiles of a seminary instructor and six Shingon Buddhist priests (真言) at Kōyasan guesthouse temples (高野山). The data, collected from semi-structured interviews, were analyzed with ATLAS.ti using a thematic analysis approach. The study identified seven key themes related to (1) family, (2) mentoring relationships, (3) education, (4) labor, (5) spiritual practices, (6) religious doctrines and faith, and (7) the devotion of guests. For the six priests, family connections were found to play an especially critical role in initial decisions to enter the priesthood, whereas other factors chiefly contributed to sustained commitment. The results are discussed in terms of theories of ‘costly signalling’, ego-identity statuses, and the Japanese tendency to construct personal identity within the context of social affiliations. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-05-06T11:58:47Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231162532
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Authors:Matteo Di Placido Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. In this article, I contribute to the development of the sociology of prayer focusing on the practice of bhaktiyoga, or yoga of devotion, within the largely influential, although substantially understudied, Mooji’s neo-Guru movement. Methodologically, I rely on the tools of reflexive sociology, autoethnography, and discourse analysis while theoretically I advance a preliminary theorization of praying interaction rituals through a coupled reading of Mauss’ early insights, Randal Collins’ Interaction Ritual Chain Theory (IRC), and the concept of spiritual capital. The article conceptualizes collective prayer as an interaction ritual chain through which the collective identity of the community is continuously reconstituted around shared rituals, and which is in turn aimed at the acquisition of spiritual capital, the most valued type of capital within Mooji’s community of devotees. Within this framework, prayer becomes essential also in the process of becoming a ‘good devotee’. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-05-06T10:15:30Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231166516
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Authors:Anu K ANTONY, Rowena ROBINSON Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. Going beyond current sociological and anthropological understandings, the article harnesses Latour’s idea of actant to grasp prayer as a comparatively independent entity, analytically cleavable from the nun’s act of praying. Based on an ethnographic study of two indigenous congregations of Catholic nuns in Kerala, India, the article argues that conceptualising prayer as actant takes it out of pure interior spirituality and re-imagines it as a form of the sociality of a nun, which includes her relationships with herself, with God, and with those inside and outside the convent, particularly those who solicit her prayers. Perceiving prayer as an actant brings the non-human, divine but real and active presence of God into sociological conversation, enabling us to examine its crucial place in the discipline and formation of the nun as a subject within her everyday life in the congregation. Moreover, analysing its diverse modes locates prayer within the networks and relationships of the congregational community, thereby engaging Foucault’s subjectivation with Latour’s actant. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2023-05-04T10:49:08Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686231166512
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Authors:Anna Sofia Salonen Abstract: Social Compass, Ahead of Print. The contemporary food system relies on a paradigm of human exceptionalism. But living well together with all forms of life would require that we imagine humans’ place in the world as embedded, not as separate. This study explores food waste as a case for how to reimagine humans’ place in the world. Drawing from individual and group interviews conducted in Canada and Finland, I trace the roles that ordinary people assign for themselves when talking about food waste. Humans see themselves as both creators of food waste and as saviours of food that is in danger of going to waste. These images uphold the division between humans and the nonhuman world. As a way of troubling these anthropocentric notions and re-embedding the human in the analysis in a way that transcends hierarchical subject positions, I identify a third role: that of the garburator. This role takes humans seriously as material, embodied, and eventually decomposing beings. Citation: Social Compass PubDate: 2022-12-29T05:08:49Z DOI: 10.1177/00377686221144400
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