Abstract
This chapter introduces Jurgen Habermas’s project of post-secularism (i.e. the management of communication between religious and atheist groups in the public sphere) and uses Shari’a as a case study to argue that in ‘i-society’ (see Chap. 8) post-secularism can be thought of as a social model wherein religion becomes more and more standardized to fit with a neoliberal ideology. In this situation, religion is not so much an agent of communicative action in what Habermas refers to as the lifeworld ; it has instead, paradoxically, been instrumentalized (or ‘colonized’, to use Habermas’s term) by neoliberal rationalization. Post-secularism will be successful, but not in the way it was intended by Habermas. It will be colonized, McDonaldized, and, as this chapter argues, i-zed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barbalet, J. (2011). Chinese Religion, Market Society and the State. In J. Barbalet, A. Possamai, & B. Turner (Eds.), Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology. New York: Anthem Press.
Barbalet, J., Possamai, A., & Turner, B. (Eds.). (2011). Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology. New York: Anthem Press.
Bellah, R. (2010). Confronting Modernity: Maruyama Masao, Jürgen Habermas, and Charles Taylor. In M. Warner, J. Van Antwerpen, & C. Calhoun (Eds.), Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age (pp. 32–52). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Black, A., & Sadiq, K. (2011). Good and Bad Sharia: Australia’s Mixed Response to Islamic Law. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 17(1), 383–412.
Boubekeur, A., & Roy, O. (2012). Introduction. Whatever Happened to the Islamists or … Political Islam Itself? In A. Boubekeur & O. Roy (Eds.), Whatever Happened to the Islamists? Salafis, Heavy Metal Muslims and the Lure of Consumerist Islam (pp. 1–13). New York: Columbia University Press.
Calhoun, C. (2011a). Afterword: Religion’s Many Powers. In E. Mendieta & J. Vanantwerpen (Eds.), The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (pp. 118–134). New York: Columbia University Press.
Calhoun, C. (2011b). Secularism, Citizenship, and the Public Sphere. In C. Calhoun, M. Juergensmeyer, & J. Vanantwerpen (Eds.), Rethinking Secularism (pp. 75–91). New York: Oxford University Press.
Casanova, J. (1994). Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dillon, M. (2010). 2009 Association for the Sociology of Religion Presidential Address. Can Post-secular Society Tolerate Religious Differences? Sociology of Religion, 71(2), 139–156.
Einstein, M. (2008). Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age. New York: Routledge.
Eisenstadt, S. (2010). Contemporary Globalization and New Civilizational Formations. Journal of Globalization Studies, 1(2), 3–11.
Giordan, G., & Pace, E. (Eds.). (2012). Map** Religion and Spirituality in the Post-secular World. Leiden: Brill.
Göle, N. (2000). Snapshots of Islamic Modernities. Daedalus, 129(1), 91–117.
Habermas, J. (2002). Religion and Rationality: Essays on Reason, God, and Modernity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (2006). Religion in the Public Sphere. European Journal of Philosophy, 14(1), 1–25.
Habermas, J., & Ratzinger, J. (2006). The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion. San Francisco: Ignatius.
Hussain, J. (2011). Islam: Its Law and Society (3rd ed.). Sydney: The Federation Press.
Hussain, J., & Possamai, A. (2013). A Down Under Approach and Reaction to Shari’a: An Impasse Towards Post-secularism? In M. Berger (Ed.), Applying Sharia in the West: Facts, Fears and Figures of Islamic Rules on Family Relations in the West (pp. 65–78). Leiden: Springer.
Izberk-Bilgin, E. (2012). Infidel Brands: Unveiling Alternative Meanings of Global Brands at the Nexus of Globalization, Consumer Culture, and Islamism. Journal of Consumer Research, 39, 663–687.
Kymlicka, W. (2010). The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism? New Debates on Inclusion and Accommodation in Diverse Societies. International Social Science Journal, 61(199), 97–112.
Kymlicka, W. (2013). Neoliberal Multiculturalism. In P. Hall & M. Lamont (Eds.), Social Resilience in the Neo-liberal Era. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Mavelli, L., & Wilson, E. (2016). Post Secularism and International Relations. In J. Haynes (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Mendieta, E., & Vanantwerpen, J. (2011). Introduction. The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere. In E. Mendieta & J. Vanantwerpen (Eds.), The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (pp. 1–14). New York: Columbia University Press.
Muslim Council of Britain. (2013). The Muslim Pound: Celebrating the Muslim Contribution to the UK Economy. The Muslim Council of Britain at the 9th World Islamic Economic Forum 2013. London: Muslim Council of Britain.
Nasir, K. M. (2016). Globalized Muslim Youth in the Asia Pacific. Popular Culture in Singapore and Sydney. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Obadia, L. (2013). La marchandisation de Dieu. L’économie religieuse. Paris: CNRS éditions.
Possamai, A. (2015). Popular and Lived Religions. Current Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392115587022.
Possamai, A., Turner, B., Roose, J., Dagistanli, S., & Voyce, M. (2013). Defining the Conversation About Shari’a: Representations in Australian Newspapers. Current Sociology, 61(5–6), 626–645.
Roose, J., & Possamai, A. (2014). Between Rhetoric and Reality: Shari’a and the Shift Towards Neo-liberal Multiculturalism in Australia. In F. Mansouri (Ed.), Cultural, Religious and Political Contestations. The Multicultural Challenge (pp. 91–105). Leiden: Springer.
Schiller, N. (2011). Localized Neoliberalism, Multiculturalism and Global Religion: Exploring the Agency of Migrants and City Boosters. Economy and Society, 40(2), 211–238.
Shirazi, F. (2016). Brand Islam. The Marketing and Commodification of Piety. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Sloane-White, P. (2012). Beyond Islamism at Work: Corporate Islam in Malaysia. In A. Boubekeur & O. Roy (Eds.), Whatever Happened to the Islamists? Salafis, Heavy Metal Muslims and the Lure of Consumerist Islam (pp. 223–245). New York: Columbia University Press.
Taylor, C. (2007). A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Torpey, J. (2010). A (Post-)Secular Age? Religion and the Two Exceptionalisms. Social Research, 77(1), 269–296.
Trigg, R. (2007). Religion in Public Life. Must Faith Be Privatized? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Turner, B. (2012). Managing Religions, Citizenship and the Liberal Paradox. Citizenship Studies, 16(8), 1059–1072.
Turner, B. (2015). Three Theories of Justice: Preliminary Reflections. In S. Simon & B. Turner (Eds.), The Spirit of Luc Boltanski: Essays on the ‘Pragmatic Sociology of Critique’ (pp. 29–47). New York: Anthem Press.
Turner, B. (2016). Ritual, Belief and Habituation: Religion and Religions from the Axial Age to the Anthropocene. European Journal of Social Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431016645355.
Wallace, A. (2003). Reason, Society and Religion: Reflections on 11 September from a Habermasian Perspective. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 29(5), 491–515.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Possamai, A. (2018). Habermas (1): A Neoliberal Post-secular Project. In: The i-zation of Society, Religion, and Neoliberal Post-Secularism. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5942-1_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5942-1_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-5941-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-5942-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)