Occulture

The New Face of American Spirituality

Inbunden, Engelska, 2027

343 kr

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Beskrivning

Far from going secular, America has entered a new era of cultural re-enchantment, in which "occulture"—from energy healing to ghost hunting—has reshaped the spiritual landscape.The last several decades have witnessed a sea change in American culture. Traditional religion has declined significantly. However, predictions that America would become predominantly secular have not come true. What has happened instead is much stranger and more interesting: America has become re-enchanted.In Occulture: The New Face of American Spirituality, Christian Smith, Matthew Coetzee, and Bridget Ritz show that while many Americans, especially younger ones, have left traditional religion, they do not find atheism or secularism attractive. Instead, they are embracing what the authors call "occulture": alternative beliefs and practices around things spiritual, psychic, mystical, magical, esoteric, pagan, occultic, and paranormal. People are buying energy crystals, experimenting with "eastern" religions, and "manifesting" their desires. They believe in energy projection, karma, reincarnation, psychic abilities, and divine energies. Significant subcultures are growing around neopaganism, magic, chakras, Reiki, ghost hunting, and monsters. Occulture dominates in most media and makes billions of dollars in profit for corporations. Until now, this sweeping cultural re-enchantment has gone largely unnoticed, either flying under the radar or being dismissed as deviant or trivial. In fact, it is a major cultural phenomenon that deserves to be taken seriously. This book does just that, drawing on original findings from national survey data, scores of interviews, field studies, and systematic analyses of media to offer a big-picture explanation of this enormous cultural transformation.The growth of occulture has massive implications for both traditional American religion and secularism, as those old rivals are joined on the field by a new contender. Occulture: The New Face of American Spirituality will fundamentally re-orient our understanding of recent religious and spiritual developments in the United States, upending what we thought we knew about the state of all things spiritual, sacred, and religious in America today.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2027-04-05
Mått:156 x 235 x undefined mm
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:512
Förlag:OUP USA
ISBN:9780197855751

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Christian Smith is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology emeritus and founding Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. He earned his PhD and MA from Harvard University and his BA from Gordon College in 1983. Smith is well known for his research on religion, adolescents and emerging adults, social theory, and critical realism. He was a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 12 years before his move to Notre Dame. His most recent published books are Why Religion Went Obsolete (OUP, 2025) and Divided By Faith (OUP, 2025).Matthew Coetzee is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, where he also earned his M.A. in Sociology. He received his M.S. from SOAS University of London and his B.A. in Sociology and African Studies from Yale University. His research draws together cultural sociology, social theory, cognition, and collective memory to examine how meanings and moral narratives shape collective action in moments of crisis. Coetzee is the author of "Recurating Robben Island" in the American Journal of Cultural Sociology, and his work has been supported by major fellowships and awards, including the Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholars Award and the Wilsey Distinguished Graduate Fellowship.Bridget Ritz received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame (2022), her M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago (2015), and her B.A. in Politics from Ave Maria University (2013). Her work bridges insights from American pragmatism, critical realist philosophy of social science, and cultural sociology. Bridget is co-author of Religious Parenting: Transmitting Faith and Values in Contemporary America (2020). Her articles have been published in the Journal of Classical Sociology, the Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, the Journal of Critical Realism, and Science Advances.

Recensioner i media

This is an essential book for understanding the lived experience and organizational infrastructure located between traditional religion and secularism. Occulture documents the persistence of spiritual longings, paints a vivid portrait of individuals and local scenes, and offers keen insights from these enchanted spaces at every step of the way.

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction1. Three Enchanted Americans: Sofia, Tyler, Sarah2. A National Portrait in Numbers3. Understanding Re-Enchantment on Its Own Terms4. Three Enchanted Spaces: a Fairy Festival, a Vampire Ball, and a Spiritual Congregation 5. Re-Mapping the American Cultural Field: Six Major Types 6. Two Enchanted-Religious Americans: Carlos and Destiny7. Enchanted Americans' Beliefs and Values8. Sources of Occulture: Enchantment's Tributaries9. Three Enchanted Americans: Rachel, Daniel, Fran10. Three More Enchanted Spaces: Esoteric Shops, a Paranormal Convention, a Supernatural Art Exhibit11. How and Why Americans Embrace Occulture12. Waves of Enchanting Media 13. How Media Spread Occulture: Three Cases14. Two Enchanted Americans: Melissa and Zoe15. Penetrating Mainstream Institutions16. What It All Means Conclusion