A01=Matthew Wood
Age Studies
anthropological theory
Aquarian Age
ascended
Ascended Masters
Author_Matthew Wood
capital
Category=QRYC
chapters
Contemporary Society
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
ethnographic
Ethnographic Chapters
ethnographic research
Euro-American Societies
EuroAmerican Societies
fair
Formative Religious Traditions
group
Holistic Milieu
In-common Participation
Indigenous Shamanisms
masters
meditation
Meditation Group
Multiple Authorities
neoliberal religious practices
Personal Secularization
Possession Practices
Professionalized Fractions
Professionalized Working Class
Reiki Energy
religious
Religious Capital
Religious Fair
Religious Field
secularisation studies
social class dynamics
sociology of religion
spiritual authority
Spiritualist Churches
studies
Subjective Life Spirituality
Wall Hangings
Young Men
Product details
- ISBN 9780754633396
- Weight: 453g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 28 Jun 2007
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This book provides a new sociological account of contemporary religious phenomena such as channelling, holistic healing, meditation and divination, which are usually classed as part of a New Age Movement. Drawing on his extensive ethnography carried out in the UK, alongside comparative studies in America and Europe, Matthew Wood criticises the view that such phenomena represent spirituality in which self-authority is paramount. Instead, he emphasises the role of social authority and the centrality of spirit possession, linking these to participants' class positions and experiences of secularisation. Informed by sociological and anthropological approaches to social power and practice, especially the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault, Wood's study explores what he calls the nonformative regions of the religious field, and charts similarities and differences with pagan, spiritualist and Theosophical traditions.
Matthew Wood is Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast, UK.
