Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Murdock, Graham

Titel

The Re-Enchantment of the World: Religion and Transformations of Modernity

Ist Teil von

• RETHINKING MEDIA, 1997, p.85-101

Erscheinungsjahr

1997

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Sociological Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Argues that research on the shifting interplay between established & emerging communication systems & the contemporary forms of the religious life they are constructing must be seen not as a specialized topic, but as part of a wider effort to understand the institutional & cultural transformations of modernity & the dynamics of reenchantment. Central themes of inquiry & speculation about the nature & consequences of modernity that stretch from the late 19th century to the present are discussed. Included in these themes are Matthew Arnold's lament over the loss of religious meaning in the modern world & Max Weber's anxiety concerning the rationalization of culture. These themes are traced in the work of the early British cultural studies tradition on the nature of modern mass culture. It is suggested that the themes of the loss of the faith in progress, the intensified sense of meaninglessness, & the consumer system's ability to compensate have opened a space through which religion may reenter the mainstream of public & private life. The recent rise of religious fundamentalism is considered in this context. 37 References. D. M. Smith