XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 13-19, 2014)

July 13 - 19, 2014

390

Spiritual and Religious Capital

RC22 Sociology of Religion (host committee)

Language: English

Scholars exploring the function of religion and spirituality do not seem to reach agreement regarding the issue of inequality: some researchers identify religion and/or spirituality as factor/s in reproducing existing patterns of inequality, whereas other authors argue the opposite, that religion/spirituality contribute to overcoming social inequality. A third position is possible in this debate, expressed by a minority of authors who argue that religion/spirituality go beyond the issue of inequality, because they point to something other than social order. This session will focus on the understanding of religion/spirituality as forms of “capital”, and will therefore investigate religious/spiritual capital in relation to inequality. An increasing body of literature distinguishes between religion and spirituality as two opposing instances. Within journalism for instance a kind of tradition has been developed in which "spirituality" is often used with positive connotations, whereas "religion" is used with negative implications; some recent studies on religiosity argue that although “religion” may be in decline, “spirituality” is on the rise. Such instances reflect a societal reflex that regards religion as restrictive, whilst spirituality would offer more open engagement with existential questions (as seen with the popular slogan that someone`s orientation is "spiritual but not religious"). In academic theology, "religion" most often describes traditional dogmatological and practical concerns, whereas "spirituality" refers to the wider and deeper, that is: the more experiential and intuitive aspects of religiosity. Such differentiations are however not entirely clear when it comes to identifying specific capital-type resources that religion/spirituality give rise to. Much of the literature about religious/spiritual capital uses these terms interchangeably without explaining the content underpinning these concepts. In this session, these matters will be explored in various ways. Eight papers will be presented. Each speaker is allocated a ten-minute speaking slot. Immediately after each presentation, two minutes are allocated for to-the-point questions or very brief remarks. At the end of the session, an additional ten minutes of open question / discussion time has been planned for. For further discussions on the papers, please meet the presenters immediately after this session.