Religion, Media, and Social Change
In an era of heightened globalization, macro-level transformations in the general socioeconomic and cultural makeup of modern societies have been studied in great depth. Yet little attention has been paid to the growing influence of media and mass-mediated popular culture on contemporary religious sensibilities, life and practice. Religion, Media, and Social Change explores the correlation between the study of religion, media and popular culture and broader sociological theorizing on religious change. Contributions devote serious attention to broadly defined media including technologies, institutions and social and cultural environments, as well as mass-mediated popular culture such as film, music, television and computer games. This interdisciplinary collection addresses important theoretical and methodological questions by connecting the study of media and popular culture to current perspectives, approaches and discussions in the broader sociological study of religion.
Kennet Granholm is docent in comparative religion at bo Akademi University, Finland, and assistant professor in the history of religions at Stockholm University, Sweden.
Marcus Moberg is a researcher in the Department of Comparative Religion at bo Akademi University, Finland.
Sofia Sj is a researcher in the Department of Comparative Religion at bo Academy University, Finland.
Routledge Research in Religion, Media and Culture
Edited by Jolyon Mitchell, David Morgan, and Stewart Hoover
| 1 | Religion and Commodification
Merchandizing Diasporic Hinduism
Vineeta Sinha
|
| 2 | Japanese Religions on the Internet
Innovation, Representation, and Authority
Edited by Erica Baffelli, Ian Reader, Birgit Staemmler
|
| 3 | Religion and Hip Hop
Monica R. Miller
|
| 4 | Material Culture and Asian Religions
Text, Image, Object
Edited by Benjamin J. Fleming and Richard D. Mann
|
| 5 | Religion, Media, and Social Change
Edited by Kennet Granholm, Marcus Moberg, and Sofia Sj |
First published 2015
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Religion, media, and social change / edited by Kennet Granholm,
Marcus Moberg, and Sofia Sj.
pages cm. (Routledge research in religion, media, and culture ; 5)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Mass media in religion. 2. Mass mediaReligious aspects.
3. Social changeReligious aspects. 4. Popular cultureReligious
aspects. I. Granholm, Kennet, 1977 editor.
BL638.R46 2014
201.7dc23
2014015205
ISBN: 978-0-415-74282-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-81433-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
The background to this edited volume on Religion, Media, and Social Change is the work done within the project Post-Secular Culture and a Changing Religious Landscape in Finland (PCCR, bo Akademi University Centre of Excellence in Research 20102014), lead by professor Peter Nyns. The editors of this volume have all been connected to the centre and its thematic research area Market, Media and Popular Culture. Inspired by the research and discussions that have taken place within the project regarding the need for the future study of religion, media and culture and broader sociological theorising on religious change to be more closely integrated with one another, the decision was made to invite renowned researchers in the field to give their take on the subject. The result is the volume at hand.
We want to thank all the authors for their thought-provoking chapters. It has been a pleasure working with you, and your contributions have inspired us all to look at the field in new ways. We also want to thank the researchers connected to the Centre of Excellence for providing us with valuable feedback and ideas. We particularly wish to thank Tuomas Martikainen for a great deal of good advice regarding the volume and professor Peter Nyns for the support he has provided during the whole duration of our work with this volume.
1
Introduction
Marcus Moberg, Sofia Sj and Kennet Granholm
Contemporary intersections of religion, media and mass-mediated popular culture are having an increasingly noticeable impact on the very character and nature of religion and religious life and practice across the globe. A number of recent studies have highlighted the ways in which media shape views on religion, how religion and religious practice are being affected by media and mass-mediated popular culture and how the increasingly pervasive media environment of today has grown into an ever more important resource and site for the exploration of religious ideas and the construction of religious identities and worldviews. In order to reach a more comprehensive understanding of contemporary processes of religious change, further scholarly attention must be paid to the multitude of intersections of religion, media and mass-mediated popular culture.
This volume aims to contribute with some perspectives and insights that can help guide future research in this area through focusing on the interplay between religion, media and mass-mediated popular culture in relation to broader processes of social and religious change since the mid-twentieth century, particularly as theorised in the sociological study of religion.
This introduction outlines how the terms social change and religious change are understood and employed in the context of the present volume and critically discusses the relation of the study of religion, media and mass-mediated popular culture with the broader sociological study of religion. It also provides a brief description and discussion of the individual contributions to the volume and the ways in which they advance our understanding of the aforementioned issues.
A Changing Social World
The story of social change in the West can be told in several ways. In the context of the present volume, the broad and frequently ambiguous term social change is understood as a general umbrella term for a range of closely interrelated macro-level processes that are typically taken to have impacted greatly on the socioeconomic and cultural makeup of Western societies in particular. These include a range of interrelated (yet partly contrasting)
